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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;FitzjamesHorse, post: 2098603, member: 73793&quot;]I think collectors have a collecting &quot;gene&quot;. I am essentially a stamp collector. But I live in Ireland (north) and now in my 60s.</p><p>Irish coins DID circulate in the North of Ireland up until the 1960s. As a child we often got them in change.</p><p>Most stores and all banks accepted them. It was all sterling. Of course they were never accepted in mainland Britain. In the old pre decimal coinage, 1928-1971 the halfpenny and penny, shilling, florin, half crown were same size as their English counterparts but the 3d and 6d were different.</p><p>After Ireland and Britain went decimal in 1971 both countries were still within Sterling but later Ireland adopted the Punt and so there had to be an exchange rate. With the rates variable, people organised to defraud cash machines/vending machines. And when bagging coins for banks.</p><p>You may notice that the first Irish decimal coins are sized like the British ones....but from about 1990 the silver coins were resized as smaller, to deal with the fraud problem.</p><p>I only really became interested in Irish coins as a sideline...when Euros were introduced. Its a nostalgia thing. I prefer circulated coins, just like the coins in my pocket in the 1960s right up to 2002.</p><p>I have most copper coins 1928-1971. Some silver.</p><p>I have most coins silver and copper 1971-2002.</p><p>A couple of weeks ago, I made a terrible mistake and tried to wash the decimal coins. Most were ruined.</p><p>I was in Dublin today and found a very good coin shop with good prices for circulated coins and I will be in a market in Belfast tomorrow. There are maybe five stalls there.</p><p>Pics to follow.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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