Irish Coinage
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Detail Image

© 2003 - Copyright
John_Stafford-Langan
Version 1.11
12th June, 2003

This coin is an Irish halfpenny struck at the Royal Mint in London in 1769.

This is an example of the second bust which was used only in 1769 and on somewhat less than half the 1769 coins. The majority of 1769 halfpennies use the first bust which was also used on the 1766 halfpenny issue.

This coin is in Good Fine (GF) condition. It has lost quit a lot of fine detail in the monarch's hair and on the harp. There is quite a lot of flatenning of the relief in the legend and some loss of design along the the top of the RE of REX (though this is area was probably weakly struck to start with).

Examples in Extremely Fine (EF) or better are quite scarce. Examples in the condition of the one above are generally available

In my opinion the best way to distinguishe between the two busts on 1769 halfpennies, which are quite dissimilar generally, is the different truncations on the neck - the scarcer bust has a short truncation loop while the more common 1766/69 bust has a longer truncation loop.

George III - Halfpenny - 1766
showing 1766/69 bust

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