Irish Coins. Irelands coinage dates from the Viking period, through the Norman and Anglo Irish eras and p to the Euro. Historically we have some very interesting issues, like the siege pieces from the 1640's, the "Gunmoney" of James II (1689-90) to mention but a few. More recently, we have the very attractive pre-decimal (LSD) series featuring various animals and fish, and sometimes referred to as the barn yard series. Currently we have the somewhat less interesting Euro, although the Central Bank are now taking much more interest and are issuing attractive annual commerative coins and limited edition year sets.