TCV Roundtable Blog

100 Greatest Modern World Coins Series: Ireland 1985 20 Pence

We often talk about the circumstances that make a coin or set of coins a part of a list such as this 100 Greatest Modern World Coins by Whitman Publishing. Rarities occur by accident, by design, or sometimes by uncontrollable forces surrounding the time in which said coins are produced. In this next entry, a chain of events occur that authors of this publication, Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker, attribute to the high profile status of this next coin.

#90 - Ireland 1985 20 Pence

The Irish 20-pence coin made its first appearance on October 30, 1986. The coin would bring back the famed horse design that would serve as the constant on the Irish Republic’s highest denomination coin at the time, the half crown. Designed by Percy Metcalfe, the reverse was seen on the half crown from 1928 to 1967 with a pause in between as the Second World War...read more