Just picked this set up from the LCS. My favorites (in hand) are the three pence, the shilling and the half crown. Enjoy!
Fascinating! Ironically, my sister just came back from a trip to Ireland last month. I would have loved if she bought one of these sets for me, but she did not get that opportunity.
Beautiful coins! Though this may be unappealing to others, I find that uncharacteristically weak strike on the face of the hound on the sixpence fascinating.
I love that set wow ! An old dear friend from Moate Ireland Dave Mac sent me an 1939 Half Crown as a gift. I still have it one of my favorite coins in my world collection . I also have the 15 euro coin from a few years back with the horse and colt.
Those "parent and kids" depictions are also why in this case I like the half penny and the penny best. Unfortunately the €15 coins were all issued as surcharged proof-only collector coins ... Christian
The Irish "Animal Coins" were popular with Irish people in the United States. My father bought this coin holder with coins in San Francisco sometime when I was a kid in the 1950's. Coins of Ireland cardboard holder 5" x 3-3/4" (12.7 x 9.5 cm)
I love these too. I wonder how often it's happened that a country's entire coinage has been designed at one time by a single artist?
Years ago I wrote to the Central Bank of Ireland seeking proof coins, they were still then selling the 1928 dated proof sets for I believe 50 quid or something. Seemed expensive at the time for a then 55-60 year old set - now I sort of wish I had bought one.
I started scanning them but never finished. You can see the ones that I have done here: http://s300.photobucket.com/user/hiddendragon02/library/Ireland?sort=3&page=0
Great lookin' set! And not in one of those PVC-ridden vinyl envelope thingies, either. I did the Irish predecimal series in the 3 Dansco albums. Had 'em all except the 1943 florin, which is so rare it had a "plug" in the album to make that one optional. I did have the 1943 halfcrown, which if memory serves, had a mintage of around 500. I never went beyond that into the decimal coins, though. I love Irish coins. And even many of the "modern" ones had pretty small mintages.
