Date of Independence! 1776 Colonial Irish Cu Halfpenny

Magic Key Date 1776 Colonial Irish Copper Half Penny Hibernia 1776 King Gorgivs III Date of Independence! Magic Key Date: 1776 !! Unbelievable! Irish 1776 King Gorgivs III OBVERSE: GORGIVS. III. REX REVERSE : Hibernia 1776 Size: 27.5 mm, Weight: 8.0 grams Irish Copper Coinage: Introduction Various Irish coppers have been associated with the coinage of colonial America as far back as the St. Patrick coppers brought to New Jersey by Mark Newby in 1681. The Philadelphia Highway find contained examples of regal Irish coppers from the first royal Irish copper, issued by Charles II, to the George III Irish halfpenny of 1781. For a full listing of Irish regal coppers found in the Philadelphia find - A significant number of counterfeit Irish coins have also been documented in colonial and early American change. Additionally, the Hibernia issues of William Woods and the Voce Populi coppers have frequently (although incorrectly) been associated with American colonial coinage. To better understand how these coins fit into the history of Irish coinage a brief overview of Irish coppers follows. For a table listing the average weight for each issue of Regal Irish coppers, from the first issue of Charles II to the 1782 issue of George III - Early Irish Coinage Royal Anglo-Irish hammered silver coinage was issued from as early as 1185 and continued through the silver issues of James I ending in 1607. Irish token farthings were minted by Lord Lennox and Lord Harrington under royal license from 1613 until the death of James I in 1625. These were immediately followed by the Richmond and Maltravers farthing tokens licensed under Charles I during the period 1625-1644. Thereafter several local issues appeared during the civil wars of the 1640's which finally ended when England completed the conquest of Ireland with the surrender of Galway in 1652. In the following year Ireland was made part of the British Protectorate. Apparently no coinage was minted during this period of occupation by Cromwell's Commonweath troops.With the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II issued a royal patent to Thomas Armstrong who began minting farthings which were rejected by the Irish. Starting in 1663 private merchant tokens began to appear with the most well know being the Saint Patrick coppers probably issued during 1674-5. These private issues continued through 1679. In the following year Armstrong and George Legg obtained a royal patent to mint regal Irish halfpence. Charles II Irish halfpence were minted from 1680 until the death of the king in 1684. As these royal coins were much larger and somewhat heavier than the merchant tokens they gained public acceptance. Interestingly, like the St. Patrick coppers, some of these coins ended up in America as a 1681 Charles II Irish halfpenny was found in the Philadelphia highway hoard. Under James II the patent for minting halfpence was transferred to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Sir John Knox, who produced James II copper halfpence from 1685 until 1688. Silver and copper James II Irish coinage was minted in 1690-1691 during the civil war. Thereafter only coppers were minted.William and Mary produced Irish halfpence 1691-1694 followed by the William III halfpenny in 1696. No additional copper Irish coinage was minted for the next twenty five years. In 1722 George I issued William Wood a patent to produce farthings and halfpence out of bath metal. Wood's Hibernia coins were minted 1722-1724 but, like Wood's Rosa Americana series, they were not well received. Although three examples of the 1723 Wood's Hibernia halfpenny have been uncovered in the Philadelphia Highway Hoard, Wood's Hibernia coinage was not found in the American colonies in any appreciable quantity. However, they have long been collected as part of the American colonial series and are therefore included in this site in the Wood's Hibernia section. George II and III Under George II Irish halfpence ... read more