In The Loupe

I recently purchased a “Loupe”. This is to magnify the date and mint marks on Coins.

Coin Storage

I still cannot call myself a Coin Collector.

At one level “collecting” implies that I have some knowledge of the hobby. Bust basically I have no idea what I am doing.

I have also struggled with storing and/or displaying my coins. The first photograph shows Irish coins in a simple “craft organising” box. This is “storage” rather than “display”.

On Friday I bought 100 “coin holders” from a dealer at a local market.

By a strange coincidence, I bought a wooden box with 25 drawers. And incredibly the coin holders fit the drawers…exactly.

This means that one box should be sufficient for Irish pre-decimal (from 1928) and decimal (from 1971) coins.

It is still “storage” rather than “display” but at least it LOOKS organised.

New Coins

Two 50pence coins received via mail order.

50p Coins

I am now running into the problem of the Law of Diminishing Returns. The more coins that I buy, the less there are available to buy…on eBay.

Fifty Pence	5	None rare or expensive
Ten Pence	1	Moderately rare
Half Pence	11	One is rare

Decimal Wants List

Of course eBay is a useful but limited market-place. At some time during late summer, it should be possible to go to a Collector Fair.

Time To Buy A Coin Album?

My (secondary) interest in Coin Collecting received a major boost in February 2020 when I attended the annual Irish National Coin Fair in Dublin.

This was the first real Coin Fair that I attended and I was pleasantly surprised. I think that Coins are ore popular in Ireland than Stamps. There is a longevity about Coins. They have been around centuries before Stamps and even in our so-called cashless society, they will be around long after Stamps become obsolete.

Of course February 2020 was just before the Pandemic. I journeyed home on the train thinking that I must learn more about Coins and although I have bought some online and read a lot online, there is information that I can only learn from other dealers.

At the moment, I keep my Coins in five “craft boxes”. The one shown below is Irish “Decimal” Coins and it is increasingly unsatisfactory. It is not a display and it is not even good storage.

Coins

Coin Box

A Coin Album is now required.

COIN	ISSUED	DIAMETER	COIN	ISSUED	DIAMETER
Farthing	18	20.2mm	Half Penny	13	17.1mm
Half Penny	16	25.5mm	Penny	19	20.3mm
Penny	23	30.9mm	Two Pence	16	25.9mm
Threepence	22	17.7mm	Five Pence (large)	11	23.6mm
Six Pence	27	21.1mm	Five Pence (small)	8	18.5mm
Shilling	20	23.7mm	Ten Pence (large)	11	28.5mm
Florin	22	28.6mm	Ten Pence (small)	8	22.1mm
Half Crown	23	32.4mm	Twenty Pence	10	27.1mm
Ten Shillings	1	30.1mm	Fifty Pence	19	30.1mm
			Punt	8	31.1mm
	172			123

Irish Coins 1928-2001

As far as I can work out, conventional coin albums are made up of pages and “pockets” (maybe small, medium and large) so in buying an album, for coins 1928-2001, I need at least 295 “pockets” but in the appropriate sizes.

The key thing is that I will not be buying an album until I can see what I am buying.

New Coins

Although Coins are very much a secondary hobby with me, the CoronaVirus pandemic has opened up some space to actually collect (Irish) coins rather than randomly picking some up at local flea markets.

So today I received these four €1 coins. Only eight €1 coins were issued between 1990 and 2000. And now I have all of them.

Punt

By by reckoning, 123 coins were issued during the Decimal Years (1971-2002) and I now have 103 of them left to find.

Seven of these are 50p coins, eleven are half pennies (one is rare so it is not likely I will ever buy one) and one is a 10p coin.

There is also a 20p coin issued but it is in the impossible category.

Euros: Coins or Just Money?

Stamps and Coins are very different. A Stamp is really just a receipt for postage and is valid (more or less)for ever. A used stamp is of course useless, except to collectors.

But a Coin? A Coin is recycled for years. And valid for as long as the currency stays the same or until a coin is discontinued.

Ireland, as a nation has had three series of Coins. From 1928, Sterling (£ s d) until 1971 when we had Decimal Sterling. The old coins were discontinued or faded out. The Pound/Punt loss of parity in 1979 had no material effect. And in 2002, Ireland started using the Euro (€).

Born in 1952, I am old enough to have used of these coins.

After 1971, as the old coins became invalid, they became a curiosity and I think that there is a high nostalgia aspect to any form of Collecting. In a sense, we never miss everyday objects until they are gone. So after the Euro was introduced the “nostalgia” factor kicked in for the Decimal coins.

But Euro coins. First of all …are they Irish?

Well there are 27 nations in the European Union and 19 use Euros. They are Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta.

There are 8 members of the EU which do not use Euros. They are Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia.

Confusingly perhaps there are 6 nations that also use Euros.. They are Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican, Kosovo and Montenegro.

All Euro coins have a side with a common design and a side that has a symbol representing the country where it was issued. In the case of Ireland, this national design is the harp. So are Euro coins…are they Irish. I suppose the best answer is “half-Irish”.

Euro-Irish Coins

Collectable? Well there are now 20 years of 8 denominations means 160 coins to collect. And two coins that may be regarded as “commemorative”. With permission each Euro nation can issue commemorative coins and Ireland is clearly conservative.

Availability? Well I live in Norn Iron where we still use Sterling but in normal pre-covid times, I am in Republic of Ireland five or six times in a month. Simply put, I take euros from an ATM and during a day, visiting bookshops, post offices, coffee bars etc, I will inevitably pick up coins.

I am sure that more than a quarter of the coins that I find in change are not “Irish”. The most common non-Irish coins are from Spain, Germany and France. Usually when I return home, I put all my small change (“shrapnel”) in a money box.

The problem with collecting coins that are still in circulation is that it reduces spending power…which is after all the whole point of MONEY.

As Coin Collecting will always be secondary to Stamp Collecting, I feel that I should limit “Euro Collecting” to Ireland.

New Coins

A new consignment of Coins from eBay arrived today. All Irish coins from the Decimal period 1971-2002.

New Coins

I always stress that I am not a Coin collector. This is very much a secondary hobby. But LockDown has meant an opportunity to buy some coins and this is probably the third consignment I have received over the past month or so.

This means that I now have all the 1p coins (19), 2p coins (16) and 5p coins (19) issued during this Decimal period. Effectively I have all the 20p coins (9)…there is a very rare 1985 issue.

There is only one 10p coin (1986) which I still do not have. While it is not rare, it is the hardest year to obtain.

There were 19 50p coins issued and I only have twelve of them. They are all moderately priced.

There were only 8 Punt coins issued and I only have four of them. Again these are moderately priced.

The tiny halfpenny coin was only issued to 1986. I only have two of the 13 issued. They are paradoxically moderately priced but hard to find. So many were just thrown away.

So during the month of April, I will probably order three consignments. This should make me feel like a “real collector”.

In February 2020, I attended the Irish National Coin Fair in Dublin. It was the first specifically “Coin” event that I have attended. Certainly I have a lot to learn and hopefully after the summer, it will be possible to attend fairs again. But maybe I will not feel so much like a novice.

Certainly I hope to have all Decimal coins (except rarities and halfpennies) by the time I attend my next Fair.

I have a strategy of sorts. Decimal Coins first. And next year the (obtainable) pre-Decimals. Many will be beyond my resources. In strictness the Irish nation has only been issuing coins from 1928. But there are earlier coins. And as a historian, I would like some “gun money” (coins made from the metal from destroyed cannons during the Wars of 1688-1692.

There is also the question of Storage and Display. I need to choose a good Coin Album.

Irish Coins: Wants List

This is a list of Irish Coins that I have on my Wants List.

Coins will always be a secondary interest for me. Many coins are easy to obtain. Some are difficult. Those dates marked * are almost impossible to obtain and only included so that the lists are “complete”.

Farthing	1928	1930	1931	1932	1933	1935	1936	1937
	1939	1940	1941	1943	1949	1953	1959	1966
Halfpenny	1939
Penny	1938*	1940
Threepence	1939
Sixpence	1969
Shilling	1930	1931	1933	1943*
Florin	1928	1930	1931	1933	1934*	1935	1937	1940
	1941	1942
Half Crown	1928	1930	1931	1934	1937*	1938*	1939	1940
	1942*	1943*
Ten Shillings	1966

£sd Coins

Half Pence	1975	1976	1977	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983
	1984	1985	1986*
One Pence	1974	1975	1985	1986	1992	1993
Two Pence	1978	1985	1992
Five Pence	1990
Ten Pence	1985	1986
Twenty Pence	1985*	1999
Fifty Pence	1971	1974	1975	1976	1977	1979	1982	1983
	1986	1999	2000
Punt	1994	1995	1996	1998	1999	2000o

Decimal Coins

Ireland Coins 1971-2002

Decimalisation in Ireland and Britain took place in February 1971.

Decimal Coins

The unit of currency remained the Pound (£) in parity with the British Pound. To prepare for Decimalisation, the three “silver” coins 5 pence, 10 pence and 50 pence were already in circulation.

The 5p and 10p coins were introduced in 1969. And the designs (Bull and Salmon respectively) were already familiar as the Shilling and Florin. Of course the shilling was 5% of a pound and the florin 10% of a pound so it was logical to simply re-designate them.

The old Ten Shillings note was replaced by a new 50p coin. The design (Woodcock) had already been used on the old farthing.

The copper coins, half-penny, 1p and 2p were introduced in 1971. These were “Celtic” designs.

In 1979, the Irish and British Pounds ceased to be in parity. Thereafter the Irish Pound became more widely known as the “Punt”.

In 1985 a 20p coin was minted but this is very rare and it was 1986 before the coin went into production. The design was the Horse, familiar from the old Half-Crown.

The tiny half-penny was something of a nuisance and the last one was issued in 1986.

In 1992 and 1993, the 5p and 10p coins were re-sized (smaller).

In 1990, a Punt coin was introduced. The design was the Red Stag.

In preparation for Ireland joining the Euro in 2002, the last mintage of these coins was in 2000.

Coins: USA Quarters

In the mail, I received four coins from my friends Kitty and Joseph in Illinois, USA.

The 50 State Quarters Album

Several years ago, Mary, a friend in Rhode Island sent me a small album and the first ten State Quarters issued. And I have been slowly adding to them over the years. The coins, Wisconsin (2), Montana and Minnesota means that I now have all fifty coins.

So happy that Kitty and Joseph got me over the line.