The fifty pence (50p) ( ga, caoga pingin) coin was a subdivision of the
Irish pound
The pound (Irish: ) was the currency of the Republic of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or IR£ for distinction). The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin cir ...
. It was introduced in
Ireland on 17 February 1970. It replaced the
ten-shilling coin and
ten-shilling note
The Bank of England 10 shilling note (notation: 10/–), colloquially known as the 10 bob note was a pound sterling, sterling banknote. Ten shillings in £sd (written 10s or 10/–) was half of one pound. The ten-shilling note was the smallest den ...
when decimalised, and due to this conversion was introduced a year before
Decimal Day
Decimal Day in the United Kingdom and in Ireland was Monday 15 February 1971, the day on which each country decimalised its respective £sd currency of pounds, shillings, and pence.
Before this date, the British pound sterling (symbol "£" ...
in 1971.
It is a seven-sided coin, an
equilateral curve heptagon of constant breadth (3 centimetres) and mass 13.5
grams. The sides are not straight but are curved so that the centre of curvature is the opposite apex of the coin – this is an equilateral curve which allowed the coin to roll freely in
vending machines. It was of the same shape and size of the
British coin of the same denomination, as both nations' pounds were pegged until 1979. The coin used the
woodcock design from the pre-decimal
farthing coin, introduced to the
Irish Free State in 1928.
On 31 May 1988 a special design was circulated for the "
Dublin Millennium", although Dublin is thought to have been founded by the Vikings in around 841 – the issue was regarded for publicity and collectors only.
The millennium coin was the first decimal to feature words on it, the word in
Roman script and in
Gaelic type, its equivalent in the
Irish language
Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...
. The coin was designed by Tom Ryan who would later design the
Irish pound coin
The one pound (£1) ( ga, punt) coin, worth one Irish pound, was used in Republic of Ireland, Ireland from 20 June 1990 until the formal adoption of euro currency in 2002. The last issue was minted in 2000.
The coin was the largest Irish coin sinc ...
. About 5 million of these were produced, with 50 thousand proof coins also being produced.
Production of fifty pence coins ceased between 1988 and 1996 because of previous oversupply and because of reduced demand following the introduction of the
twenty pence coin. The coin was withdrawn on the advent of the
euro in 2002, with its last minting issue in 2000.
References
External links
Irish coinage website – catalogue – decimal fifty pence
{{Irish currency and coinage
fifty pence (decimal coin)
Fifty-cent coins