Irish Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

Free State (1921-1937), Pattern Penny, 1927, by P. Morbiducci, in bronze, harp, stamped prova, rev. hen and chickens left, edge plain, 8.51g/12h (Brady, SNC June 1976, p.238; S –; KM. Pr. 3 variant; cf. Spink 188, 338). Lightly lacquered (as most extant specimens of this series are), extremely fine and extremely rare; perhaps only 3 known in bronze £4,000-£5,000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Irish Coins, the Property of a Gentleman.

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Provenance: Bt Spink June 1978.

The patterns entered by the Roman sculptor Publio Morbiducci (1889-1963) for the competition to design Ireland’s new money in 1928, in which he was ultimately unsuccessful, have, as Gerard Brady stated, ‘an ageless character and beauty.’ Struck by the Milanese medallists Lorioli Castelli (now Lorioli Fratelli), the precise numbers of pieces which exist are uncertain, although the best previously published estimates were by Brady in 1976, who thought that three pieces existed in bronze (his numbers 41-3)