Re: Coin Help needed
Old Fort . Near that farm I took you to~~~~~
Here is some interesting info~~~~In 1766, six year after coming to the English throne, George III produced an issue of copper halfpennies for Ireland (illustrated). These coins are similar in design to those of George II. The farthing denomination was not struck. The issue was continued in 1769 and second issue the same year with some modifications to the bust of the monarch was also produced. The design was modified again in 1774 and coins were issued dated 1774, 1775, 1776, 1781 and finally in 1782.
A number of proofs exist of these coins the commonest of which are of the 1775 (illustrated) and 1782 dates.
The size of the issue of these halfpennies was not sufficiently large to provide change for the Irish economy and during the letter years of the issue and subsequently a large number of contemporary copies were made in Ireland.
The standard of workmanship in the contemporary forgeries varies greatly; some specimens being as well made as the official Royal Mint pieces and others being very poorly executed and obviously much lighter and thinner.
The act of forging regal coinage carried a severe penalty so the forgeries began to carry a number of legends other than the regal one. Some spurious legends are biblical and others are simply jumbled letters. The reverse legend HIBERNIA is similarly altered on some specimens.
A number of these forgeries made their way to America and they are included in the colonial series. As is the way with such things the Irish forged coppers with US attributable legends such as 'George President' or 'George Washington' (instead of 'Georguis III Rex') are much more sought after than the coins with Irish or English references in their legends despite being no more scarce.
By the end of the 1780's the need for small change became desperate both in Ireland and England as King George III had become mad and was unable to sign any coinage acts. The regal prerogative over the right to mint coin having been carefully guarded by the monarchy while other trappings of power devolved to Parliament. This resulted in an extensive series of copper tokens being issued in this period and up until about 1804 though the later pieces are often dated before 1794 to avoid the more severe penalties to restrict tokens introduced in that year. The tokens of this period will be covered in: Irish Tokens (1200 to 1858)
