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 Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

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 A Reuleaux triangle is a curved triangle with constant width, the simplest and best known curve of constant width other than the circle. It is formed from the intersection of three circular disks, each having its center on the boundary of the ...

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 The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of wading birds in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English name ...

design from the pre-decimal farthing coin, introduced to the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

in 1928. On 31 May 1988 a special design was circulated for the "

Dublin Millennium In the 1980s and 1990s, a number of areas in the Republic of Ireland held year-long festivals commemorating historic anniversaries. The country was in an economic depression at the time and these were excuses for some civic pride; the anniversari ...

", 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 The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

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