Ireland ½ penny 1928 - Irish Free State - Sow and Piglets

The coin's story

This halfpenny belongs to the very first coinage of independent Ireland, put into circulation on 12 December 1928 in the name of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann). A committee chaired by the poet w. b. yeats chose farm animals rather than portraits or political symbols, to represent a rural and agricultural Ireland: this is the famous “Barnyard series”, designed by the English sculptor Percy Metcalfe. For the halfpenny, Metcalfe proposed a sow and a ram, the committee chose the sow, pork and bacon then being among Ireland's main exports. This legend SAORSTÁT ÉIREANN was used until 1937, after the new Constitution, it was replaced by the simple ÉIRE from 1939. 1928 is the first year of striking, and the largest of this type.