Ireland 1 penny 1931 - Irish Free State - Hen and Chicks

The coin's story

The penny (pingin in Irish) was worth one two-hundred-and-fortieth of a pound, or one twelfth of a shilling, it was abbreviated “d”, from the Roman denarius. It belongs to the very first coinage of independent Ireland, introduced in 1928 in the name of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Éireann) to replace the British penny. A committee chaired by the poet w. b. yeats chose farm animals rather than portraits or political symbols: this is the “Barnyard series”, designed by the English sculptor Percy Metcalfe. The penny shows a hen and her chicks, an image of the farmyard present on almost every Irish farm. The legend SAORSTÁT ÉIREANN was replaced by ÉIRE after the Constitution of 1937. The penny was struck until 1968 and ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 1971, after decimalisation.