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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;BRandM, post: 1312356, member: 22729&quot;][ATTACH]147978.vB[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This 1929 George V Penny stamped with a &quot;WAR&quot; counterstamp is a possible Northern Ireland political token though not a troubles counterstamp. The troubles era is generally considered to have lasted from about 1969 to 1998, and was the the most violent period in the long history of Irish sectarian warfare. I feel this may be an issue of the IRA dating to the Sabotage Campaign waged against the British Government in 1939/1940. I noticed this coin offered on E-bay months ago and finally decided to buy it and research the possibility of it being a protest coin of some sort. It&#039;s possible of course that &quot;WAR&quot; represents something as simple as someones initials, but I believe there&#039;s a possibility that it propagandizes the IRA&#039;s declaration of &quot;war&quot; against Britain declared in January, 1939.</p><p>The purpose of this Sabotage Campaign (also called the S-Plan) was to attack and destroy the economic, civil and military infrastructure of Britain as to compel her to withdraw her military from Ireland. This would in effect make it possible to establish an Irish free state, long a goal of the nationalists. The violence began on January 16, 1939 with the bombing of power stations and water mains in London,Coleshill, Alnwick, and other cities. There were many additional acts of violence carried out over the next 2 years, but the campaign effectively ended on August 25, 1939 with an IRA bomb attack in the shopping district of Broadgate, Coventry. In the attack five civilians were killed and over 50 wounded. The incident so outraged people that much of the support for the campaign was lost. By late 1940 with the introduction of various anti-violence laws in both England and Ireland, Many members of the IRA were arrested, imprisioned, and deported.</p><p>It&#039;s unclear if this counterstamped coin is a political prapoganda coin or just the stamp of an individual or a commercial enterprise. If more examples should surface in the future it would make it more likely that it&#039;s a protest coin. If none do or no additional information surfaces as to the purpose of it, then it&#039;s just a guess.</p><p><br /></p><p>Bruce[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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