LSD - Pre Decimal (1928-1969)

In 1926 an advisory commitee was appointed under the chairmanship of W.B Yeats. The commitee invited a number of artists to submit designs and those that competed were three Irishmen Jerome Connor, Albert Power and Olicer Shepard, and Paul Manship from America, Percy Metcalf from England, Carl Milles of Sweden and Publio Morbiducci of Italy. The harp was chosen for the obverse type having been used on all Irish coins since it introduction under Henry VIII. The reverse designs were to represent the fauna of the Irish countryside, the animals chosen being the Irish horse, salmon, bull, greyhound, hare, chicken, pig and woodcock. Many superb designs were submitted but Metcalfe's set was unanimously selected.

The coins were made at the royal mint in London in 1928. The three highest denominations the halfcrown, florin and shilling were made of 0.750 silver alloyed with 0.250 copper. The sixpence and threepence were made of  pure nickel and the penny, halfpenny and farthing were made of bronze an alloy of 0.955 copper 0.030 tin and 0.015 zinc.

6000 specimen sets of the coins were specially made with proof surfaces and about 4000 of these were sold to the general public.

In 1937 a new constitution declared the free state a soverign repulic with the name Eire and this name appeared on the next coins to be issued in 1939. In 1942 pure nickel for the threepence and sixpence was abandoned in favour of a cupro nickel alloy of 0.750 copper and 0.250 nickel. By 1943 the rising price of silver made it uneconomic to mint coins of 0.750 silver. No shillings were minted that year and a few halfcrowns and florins escaped into circulation and remain elusive and expensive key dates in the Irish series. These denominations were not produced again until 1950 at which time the same cupro nickel alloy was used as for the sixpences and threepences.

The fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising of 1916 was commerated with a special issue of 0.833 silver ten shilling piece. These bear the bust of Padraig H. Pearse in one side and on the reverse a copy of the statue by Oliver Shepard of Cuchulainn the legendary hero which now stands in the general post office in Dublin.

The last denomination issued was the 1969 sixpence piece.