Ireland 1979 penny
This specimen was lot 72382 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Santa Ana, CA, October 2019), where it sold for $156. The catalog description[1] noted, "IRELAND. Penny, 1979. PCGS SPECIMEN-64 Red Gold Shield. A fully red Near Gem, offering intense beauty and elegance. A highly attractive specimen. Ex: King's Norton Mint Collection." In 1969, Ireland, following the lead of Great Britain, dumped her ancient sterling coinage and converted to a decimal system of one pound = one hundred pence. The first decimal coins (introduced in 1969) were the five pence (equaled the old shilling with the bull reverse) and the ten pence (equaled the old florin with the salmon reverse). The fifty pence was added in 1970, the half, one and two pence coins were added in 1971. This bronze penny was struck 1971-88, then converted into copper plated steel for 1988-2000. Ireland adopted the euro in 2002 and all this coinage is obsolete.
Recorded mintage: 21,766,000.
Specification: 3.56 g, bronze, 20.3 mm diameter, designed by Gabriel Hayes.
Catalog reference: KM 20.
- Lobel, Richard, Mark Davidson, Allan Hailstone and Eleni Calligas, Coincraft's Standard Catalogue of the Coins of Scotland, Ireland, Channel Islands & Isle of Man, London: Coincraft, 1999.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [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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