Irish Hunter Horse (Half Crown) Silver Coin 1934

Two shillings and six pennies is the value of this 75 year old silver (.750 silver with .250 copper) Irish silver coin.

This was the first year of independent Ireland coin mintage

'Leat Coróin' translates to ' Half a crown' which was the official title of this coin. In my youth it was refered to as a 'half dollar'.

1967 was the last year these 2/6d coins were minted.

The Irish Horse

A descendant of the native Connemara pony and draught horse that can be traced back to pre-historic times.  The first horses raced at ancient festivals and pulled chariots into battle;  the Brehon Laws described them as "big, sound, noble, load carrying, lively, and easy bearing".  At the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 the Duke of Wellington rode an Irish black horse called Copenhagen while Napoleon Bonaparte's horse Marengo came from County Wexford. 

Irish Coins

The Irish Government appointed a committee, headed by William Butler Yeats, to advise them on coin designs and in 1928 the new coinage made its appearance. The designs finally selected were the work of Percy Metcalfe.

The obverse of each coin carries the traditional Irish harp and the reverse a series of animals indigenous to the Irish countryside. These are a woodcock on the farthing, a pig with piglets on the halfpenny, a hen with chickens on the penny, a hare on the threepence, a wolfhound on the sixpence, a bull on the shilling, a salmon on the florin and a horse on the halfcrown.

Because a head of the ruling monarch formerly appeared on the obverse and harp on the reverse, many people erroneously think of the animals as being 'heads' and the harp 'tails'. Apart from a change of legend when Ireland became a republic (on coins dated from 1949 onwards) these designs remained the same until decimalisation on the 15th of February 1971.

Decimalisation was with us for over 30 years and is now replaced with Euro currency since the 1st January 2002.

Good Luck!

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