Irish 6 penny piece. Cupro-nickel
1964. See enlarge image.
It would make a great pendant or ear
ring for the Irish Wolfhound fancier.
In very fine condition.
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. The farthing was only minted
in 1966 to complete the set. It was never used as currency because of it's low
value. The last minted farthing used as currency was in 1959.
Decimalisation was with us for over 30 years
and is now replaced with Euro currency since the 1st January 2002.
The Irish Wolfhound
"One of our national peculiarities is that
Wolf Dog, which, with paws most contemplatively crossed, is looking abroad and
as it were, scouting with his keen round eye, for the game that, alas poor
Luath! is no longer found on hill or curragh. Ireland, though it does indeed
contain many a ravenous greedy creature, is yet no longer infested with wolves.
Formerly it was not so. So late as the year 1662, Sir John Ponsonby had to bring
into parliament a bill to encourage the killing of wolves. Their coverts were
the bogs, the mountains and those shrubby tracts, then so abundant in the
island, and which remained after the ancient woods were cut down; affording
shelter, not only for the wolf, but the 'raparee'(outlaw).
The last wolf seen in Ireland was killed in
Kerry in 1710. But if our country was once, famous for wolves, she was equally
noted for, its peculiar enemy - the Irish Wolf Dog, uniting all the speed of the
greyhound with the strength of the mastiff, and depending on its eye, its foot
and its wind, would hunt down the game, which the canis veltris, or scent hound
had started for it. These Irish dogs were exhibited in the fourth century, at
the Circensian Games in Rome. They were an article of export from our isle in
the middle ages. They are mentioned in the Welsh Laws of Howel Dha, as belonging
exclusively to the Cambrian princes and nobility and a great fine is noted as to
be imposed on those who should injure them. They were employed to hunt the red
deer, and the 'platyceros' or moose deer, as well as the wolf. But the
employment being gone, the breed though not extinct, has ceased to be common. It
is rarely to be seen though I have marked a certain, grave solemn gentleman,
parading through town with a couple of these grim creatures stalking after him,
while both he and his dogs look as if they belong to an age long gone by".
(Written by a Mr. Terence O'Toole and taken from the Dublin Penny Journal - July
7 1832).
Measuring: 00.80" diameter.
PLEASE NOTE WORLD WIDE
FIXED SHIPPING RATE
Allow $4.00 for insurance,
packing and shipping.
Half the above if on the
island of Ireland
Good Luck!
Back to Search Results
) 
Print
Report item
and your