1822 Irish Pattern Crown

This 1822 Irish Pattern Crown was struck as a trial piece for a coin that George IV's government never authorized, potentially standardizing Ireland's currency with Britain.

It features the king's bust on the obverse and a harp on the reverse, both rendered in a style that echoes Pistrucci's work for the Royal Mint. Struck on silver planchets, these patterns borrowed elements from Spanish colonial coins circulating in Ireland at the time.

Records are murky; the exact number produced is unknown, likely fewer than a dozen. Some speculate they were melted down, but that's just guesswork.

Patterns like this one remind me of unfulfilled promises—plenty of them in numismatics.