Irish Coinage
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© 2003 - Copyright
John_Stafford-Langan
Version 1.11
21st June, 2003

These two pennies are both dated 1968.

The one on the left is a 'normal' penny. The one on the right is the 'chickless' variety.

The principal difference is that the chickless penny has the body of the second chick missing in the area behind the hen's leg. The head of the chick is quite clear to the left of the hen's leg, but the curve of the chick's belly and the top of its leg are completely missing from the areas to the right of the hen's leg. There is a tiny remnant of the chick's leg visible just above the exergue line.

There are other differences between the coins, for example the arrow head is smaller on the chickless variety. It is possible that these differenece are the result of an over polished die, however the variety does occur for other years. 1942 examples are also avalable and I have a report of one from 1948.

There is no particular premium on these coins at the moment as the variety is not published widely .

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