Ireland 1945 6 pence
This specimen was lot 72379 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, October 2019), where it sold for $110. The catalog description[1] noted, "IRELAND. 6 Pence, 1945. Dublin Mint. PCGS MS-65 Gold Shield. Boasting the lowest mintage in the series, this Gem is certainly one of the finest that one could hope to encounter. Accordingly, PCGS has graded just two finer. A steel gray tone is accentuated by russet highlights throughout." Altho ascribed by the cataloguers to the Dublin mint, Ireland does not have a mint and these coins were made by the Royal Mint. After winning independence from Great Britain after World War One, Ireland went thru a civil war before settling on a free state completely separate from Britain. The first coinage of the new country was in 1928; in 1939, the obverse legend was revised from "SAORSTAT EIREANN" to plain "EIRE", which title still obtains. The sixpence was converted from nickel to copper-nickel in 1942.
Recorded mintage: 400,000 plus proofs; a scarce date.
Specification: 4.54 g, copper-nickel, 20.8 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-13a.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Skingley, Philip, ed., Standard Catalogue of British Coins: Coins of Scotland, Ireland and the Islands (Jersey, Guernsey, Man & Lundy), Pre-Decimal Issues, 2nd edition, London: Spink & Son, 2003.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Richard Ponterio and Kyle Ponterio, The October 2019 Collector's Choice Sale: World and Ancient Coins, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2019.
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