1670's St. Patrick - New Jersey - Irish Half Penny Colonial

Heya everyone

Well the time has finally come. After years of waiting for one of these to pop up in my wallet's reach, I have finally acquired a St. Patrick's Half Penny. These are really interesting pieces and must hold a lot of history.





Read about them here: http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/StPat.intro.html

Let me know whatcha think!
- Ryan -

 

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That,s a really old coin! Great history a very exciting piece! Congrats

 

This is a piece that most folks will never even see, let alone own. Nice job snagging one with significant retained meat and pretty nicely centered on a decent planchet.

 

very nice!! :thumb:

 

Great acquisition Ryan!

 

Thanks guys! It's truly a great piece to own and am happy with this one. It has a great color and not too bad surfaces which is hard to find on these.

 

Very cool, ryan. An interesting and mysterious coin.

 

congrats and me being a irish man . I have still to get one.
Nice pick up. Dave

 

Anyone care to take a shot at its variety?

 

I don't have Breen handy. I would like to take a shot at it determining which of the 9 die varieties it is though!

 

That's a very cool piece. I'd love to be able to see the different hands and places it's seen.

 

Care to cut this beauty in half to find out whether this is brass splasher or planchet plug?

 

That's very nice. How do you take pics so great?! I need advice on this. Any pics of the edges?

 

I know that this post is quite a few months old, but I just came across it so I thought I would comment. That is a great coin for sure, however I have doubts regarding the actual history of these coins in NJ, vs. what is written in the coin and history books.

I have no doubt that these coins were legal tender in New Jersey, however I do have doubts if these coins actually ever made it into circulation. Historic accounts of the circulation of the St. Patrick farthings and halfpenny claim that these coins were popular with the colonists and the coin circulated well into the 19th century. As an experienced metal detecting enthusiast, I have seen thousands of coins which were dug from the soils of New Jersey, as well as the other original colonies. I am only aware of one St. Patrick coin being dug on this side of the pond, and that was more than ten years ago. If this coin was as popular as is written, it would be likely that they would turn up on old farm fields or colonial homesteads that instead product hundreds of King George I, II and III, Hibernia Coppers, William III and even William and Mary coppers.

It is my opinion, as well as many other colonial coin collectors, that although these coins were deemed legal tender by the New Jersey Legislature in 1682, that the majority of these coins never made it into the hands of the public.

 

That's a very cool piece.

 

Good to hear from you Neil! I just noticed you were a member here. We used to cross paths on the metal detecting forums but I haven't been too active because of work and now the drought. Anyway nice to see a familiar name. Hope you stick around and post some of your amazing finds.