Pearse Silver Ten Shillings (Easter 1916) Commemorative 1966.

 These coins were issued to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Easter Rising in 1916.

The edge of the coin is inscribed in incuse lettering : eiri amac na casca - 1916

There are two varieties with the edge legend running in either direction, there does not appear to be a scarcer variety or any collector interest in the varieties.

The Central Bank issued 2,000,000 pieces, unfortunately they were not popular with the general public and did not circulate widely, the government put them into civil service pay packets to try and distribute them. It is reputed that the Central Bank melted about 1,250,000 around 1971 with the advent of decimalisation. Many more went into the melting pot when the price of silver rose to record heights in 1980/81. However these coins are still common.

You need to be a little careful as a quite a few of these coins are available in a near uncirculated grade and can often be polished up to look better then they are.  They are also sought by collectors with Republican or Nationalist interests, the 1916 Easter Rising etc. who are generally less worried about grade as long as the coin is presentable.  As they are readily available a coin collector should wait and get a problem free example.

The coins were originally issued wrapped in brown paper in rolls of 20, and then in boxes of 10 roll, that is 200 pieces. While the rolls are scarce, they do turn up and often fetch a small premium, original boxes are rare in thirty years I have only encountered 7.

Proof Issues - Single and Doubles.

50,000 of these coins were struck in proof quality so they are still readily available and inexpensive.

They were issued in a green leatherette box with a black velvet setting and a white lining on the lid which has a black harp printed on it, you should check for signs of rust staining in the lining. Cased coins are worth more than loose examples.

A smaller number of twin sets were issued in larger but otherwise similar cases which allow an obverse and a reverse to be displayed together, these are quite hard to find and fetch a significant premium over a pair of singles. 

The original packaging for the case was a brown corrugated cardboard sleeve, which slipped into a brown corrugated cardboard slip case. These proof coins can occasionally be found in the complete original packaging and while it does not really increase the value it is nice to get an example with completely original packaging.

N.B. The proof pair should consist of two coins with opposite edge orientations.

Be careful of normal circulation strikes presented in other Central Bank Boxes.

When 25,000 of the 1990 proof pound coin were repackaged into the Jim Ftzpatrick designed presentation pack with the Queen Maebh One Pound note, this released a quantity of empty original boxes. These surplus 1990 boxes have been used for a variety of other coins, which is not a problem, unless the seller tries to sell it as an original usually with a Pearse but I have also seen them with the Ecu and UN £1.

The 1990 box has a cream coloured base and is a lighter colour than the original 1966 box.  The recess in the base is larger as the Pearse proofs were inserted directly in the base, whereas the 1990 pound was in a capsule.