George I Irish Halfpenny

The George I Irish Halfpenny, minted between 1722 and 1724, ignited a notorious scandal when contractor William Wood was accused of overproducing coins for personal gain.

Wood's operation, based at the Tower Mint, churned out these copper pieces under a royal patent, but the Irish public decried them as substandard and exploitative. That led to Jonathan Swift's scathing pamphlets, which helped quash the scheme. The coins themselves feature a draped bust of the king on the obverse and Ireland's harp on the reverse, struck on thin, uneven planchets that often show pitting from poor metal quality.

Exact mintage figures are murky; records from that era were haphazardly kept, and many were destroyed in later fires. I've handled dozens over the years, and they're a reminder that even royal currency could be as reliable as a wet paper bag in circulation.