From the farthing coin to the euro

THE younger generation would have no notion of what fun we had with pre-decimal coinage. Today they have in their pockets or purses 1c, 2c, 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, €1 and €2 coins.

When I was growing up we had nine coins - the farthing, half penny, penny, threepence, sixpence, shilling, florin, the half crown and ten shillings.

All but the ten shillings were introduced on December 12, 1928, while the ten bob coin came into circulation on April 12, 1966.

The older coins were highly distinctive with either an animal or bird on the reverse. The farthing - a quarter of a penny of which there were 240 in a pound - had a woodcock; the half penny, a sow and litter; the penny, a hen and chicks; the threepence, a hare; sixpence, a wolfhound; shilling, a bull; florin (two shillings), a salmon; half crown (two shillings and six pence), a horse, and the ten shillings featured the death of Cú Chulainn.

The farthing was abolished on January 1, 1962, the half penny on August 1, 1966, and the penny, threepence and sixpence went on January 1, 1972, the shilling on January 1, 1993, the florin on June 1, 1994, the half crown on January 1, 1970, and the ten shillings on February 10, 2002.

There have been three sets of coins in Ireland since independence. In all three, the coin showed a Celtic harp on the obverse. The pre-decimal coins of the Irish pound had realistic animals on the reverse. The decimal coins retained some of these but featured ornamental birds on the lower denominations.

The euro coins used the common design of the euro currencies. The pre-decimal and original decimal coins were of the same dimensions as the same-denomination British coins, as the Irish pound was in currency union with the British pound sterling.

British coins were widely accepted in Ireland, and conversely to a lesser extent. In 1979 Ireland joined the Exchange Rate Mechanism and the Irish pound left parity with sterling.

The first coins minted in Ireland were produced in about 995 AD in Dublin for King Sitric, the Hiberno-Norse King of Dublin. These penny coins bore the head and name of the king and the word Dyfin for Dublin.

John of England was among the first Anglo-Norman monarchs to mint coins in Ireland. These were farthings, halfpennies and pennies. It was not until the reign of Henry VII that Irish coins bore the harp.

In the following centuries gold, silver and copper coins were issued, and, at one time, metal from melted-down gun barrels was used. This was called ‘gun money’.

Coins issued in the 18th and 19th centuries often included the word Hibernia on the harp side.

The last Irish coins issued prior to independence were during the reign of George IV, in 1823. Irish coins were withdrawn in 1826 following the full political union of Ireland and Britain in the 1800 Act of Union. Occasional ‘fantasy’ coins were minted in the next century but these were neither circulated nor legal tender.

The Irish Free State decided soon after its foundation in the 1920s to design its own coins and banknotes. It was decided that the Irish currency would be pegged to the pound sterling.

The Coinage Act, 1926 was passed as a legislative basis for the minting of coins for the state and these new coins commenced circulation on December 12, 1928. The decision was mainly for economic reasons because, in 1924, 98 per cent of Irish exports went to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, while 80 per cent of imports were from those territories.

Additionally, the stability and backing of the pound sterling reassured the government that the new currency was on a firm foundation and did not weaken efforts to rebuild the country socially and economically, which was the government's first commitment.

The first coins were struck in 1928 and were minted at the Royal Mint in London. In 1938, following the introduction of the Constitution of Ireland, the obverse of the coins was modified with the Irish language name of the State, ‘Éire’, and the harp was also modified so that it wore better.

While many of the Irish coins are common, particularly in lower grades, there are some notable rarities. Most of the 1943 florins and half crowns were melted down at the mint, and only small numbers were released.

Three new designs were created in bronze for the new decimal currency by the artist Gabriel Hayes, and were based upon manuscripts designs of ornamental birds in Celtic knotwork style. The designs of Percy Metcalfe were retained for the new five and 10 pence coins, taken from the shilling and florin, respectively.

The new 50 pence piece bore the image of the woodcock from the old farthing.

In 1978, the Central Bank of Ireland opened the Currency Centre at Sandyford in Dublin for the production of coins and banknotes.

The rising expense of minting coins necessitated the introduction of the 20 pence coin in 1986; the halfpenny coin was withdrawn at this time as inflation had reduced its buying power.

The introduction of the euro was overseen by the Euro Changeover Board of Ireland which was a special agency created on May 5, 1998, by the Minister for Finance. This agency provided a wide variety of information including converters, training packs, images and public advertisements on a wide range of media to ensure a successful transfer.

As with all eurozone countries, Ireland continued to mint its own coins after the currency changeover to the euro.

One side of euro coins is common across the eurozone - it is the obverse, which has a design unique to Ireland. Although some other countries used more than one design, or even a separate design for each of the eight coins Ireland used only one design. A redesigned harp (superficially identical to that used on earlier coins) was used, having been designed by Jarlath Hayes.