Ireland's only commemorative 50 pence

[<k>]

Ireland, 50 pence, 1988.

This 50 pence was issued to celebrate the Millennium of Dublin. Now that the 50 pence is so wildly popular with certain collectors, what might have happened if Ireland had kept the Irish pound? Would it have joined in the 50 pence frenzy? Which subjects would it have chosen? It is hard to think of anything bright and cheerful in Irish history, which was partly the fault of their former British rulers, of course. What could have matched the frivolous cheer of Peter Rabbit, apart from the long gone animal designs of a certain Englishman, namely Percy Metcalfe?

Indeed, in the 1990s the Irish even had plans to replace their heptagonal 50 pence with a round coin. This was because they were tied to buying blanks from the Royal Mint. However, that plan never went into action and became irrelevant, because Ireland started preparing to join the euro.

[brandm24]

I like the look of the heptagonal coins, plus the different shape makes it impossible to mistake for another coin. Not only that but round is boring. I know, all US coins are round. Try to distinguish between a quarter and a Sac dollar...I always abbreviate here because I can never remember how to spell Sacajewea (see what I mean)... when rummaging around in a pocket full of lint and other assorted debris.

By the way, why did the Irish pound go away after such a short run ? The EU coinage, I suppose.

Bruce

[<k>]

By the way, why did the Irish pound go away after such a short run ? The EU coinage, I suppose.

Exactly that. In the early 1990s, the Irish had plans to replace the 1 penny and 2 pence designs with old Metcalfe designs and make all the animals face the same way. But all those plans were dropped, once it was decided to adopt the euro.

[onecenter]

This 50 pence was issued to celebrate the Millennium of Dublin. Now that the 50 pence is so wildly popular with certain collectors, what might have happened if Ireland had kept the Irish pound? Would it have joined in the 50 pence frenzy?

In my collecting opinion, Ireland has a very conservative, dare I state, staid, coinage issuing policy, whether for circulation or for collectors.  I doubt that there would have been much change to Irish decimal coinage whether or not the euro was adopted or not. 

[<k>]

Most Western countries have become considerably less staid in their issuing policies, as regards commemoratives, so I guess Ireland would have followed suit. In fact, they have managed to produce many attractive euro commemoratives, often designed by Welshman Michael Guilfoyle, who has some Irish ancestry.

[brandm24]

In my collecting opinion, Ireland has a very conservative, dare I state, staid, coinage issuing policy, whether for circulation or for collectors.  I doubt that there would have been much change to Irish decimal coinage whether or not the euro was adopted or not.

I basically agree with you, Mark. They are conservative but still they're some of my favorite designs. Reminds me somewhat of US coinage designs that until recent years were not particularly innovative. "Not particularly innovative" is a nice way of saying they're boring and predictable. That's been changing in recent years though with the introduction of the State Quarter issues and others.

Bruce

[<k>]

Thomas Ryan's beautiful stag design on an Irish collector 50 ecu coin.

Interestingly, Irish artist and numismatist Thomas Ryan engraved the reverse of that 50 pence coin.

He later designed the reverse of Ireland's 1 pound coin.

It portrayed a stag. The beautiful design is a modern classic, in my opinion.


Mr. Ryan died on 15 September 2021 at the age of 91.

See: The story behind the Irish pound coin.