1916 Half Crown SOLID SILVER Coin Irish Easter Uprising Dublin Antique Old Retro

1916 Half Crown Coin
The Year of the Irish Uprising
Over 100 Year Old British Half Crown Coin from 1916
Solid 0.925 Silver
The Same year the Easter Uprising in Ireland
½ Crown – George VI 1st type
½ Crown – George VI (1st type) – obverse½ Crown – George VI (1st type) – reverse
Features
Issuer United Kingdom (United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies) 
King George VI (1936-1952)
Type Standard circulation coins
Years 1937-1946
Value ½ Crown (⅛)
Currency Pound sterling (1158-1970)
Composition Silver (.500)
Weight 14.14 g
Diameter 32.3 mm
Thickness 2.3 mm
Shape Round
Technique Milled
Orientation Medal alignment ↑↑
Demonetized 31 December 1969
Number N#7181Help
References KM# 856, Sp# 4080
Obverse
Uncrowned portrait of King George VI left, legend around.
Script: Latin
Lettering:
GEORGIVS VI D: G: BR: OMN: REX
HP
Translation: George the Sixth by the Grace of God King of all the Britains
Engraver: Thomas Humphrey Paget
Reverse
Quartered shield of arms flanked by crowned royal cyphers, legend above, denomination and date below.
Script: Latin
Lettering:
FID:DEF IND:IMP
GG GG
K· G
HALF CROWN 1937
Translation: Defender of the Faith Emperor of India
Engraver: George Kruger Gray
Delve into history with the 1916 Half Crown Coin, A genuine piece of History. Crafted from 0.925 solid silver, this antique coin hails from the Royal Mint, bearing the craftsmanship of an era that witnessed significant historical events. Recognised as an original item from the United Kingdom, his half crown coin stands as a testament to the rich tapestry of the past. Collectors and history enthusiasts alike will appreciate the intrinsic value and the story it carries from a bygone age.
In Good Condition given it is over one hundred years old
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Half crown (British coin)
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Half crown
United Kingdom
Value £0.125
Two shillings and sixpence
Mass 1816–1970: 14.14 g
Diameter 1816–1970: 32.31 mm
Edge Milled
Composition
1816–1919: 92.5% Ag
1920–1946: 50% Ag
1947–1970: Cupronickel
Years of minting 1707–1970
Obverse
Design Profile of the monarch (Elizabeth II design shown)
Designer Mary Gillick
Design date 1953
Reverse
Design Various (crowned Royal Shield shown)
Designer Edgar Fuller and Cecil Thomas
Design date 1967
The British half crown was a denomination of sterling coinage worth 1⁄8 pound, or two shillings and six pence (abbreviated “2/6”, familiarly “two and six”), or 30 pre-decimal pence. The half crown was first issued in England in 1549, in the reign of Edward VI, with a value half that of the crown coin. No half crowns were issued in the reign of Mary, but from the reign of Elizabeth I half crowns were issued in every reign except that of Edward VIII, until the coins were discontinued in 1970.
During the English Interregnum of 1649–1660, a republican half crown was issued, bearing the arms of the Commonwealth of England, despite monarchist associations of the coin’s name. When Oliver Cromwell was made Lord Protector of England, half crowns were issued bearing his portrait depicting him wearing a laurel wreath in the manner of a Roman Emperor. The half crown did not display its value on the reverse until 1893. In the 20th century a slang term for the coin was “half-a-dollar”.[1]
The half crown was demonetised (ahead of other pre-decimal coins) on 1 January 1970, the year before the United Kingdom adopted decimal currency on Decimal Day.
History of the half crown by reign
Gold half crown of Elizabeth I, 1580/81
This Charles I half crown was struck from a piece of hammered silver plate during one of the Civil War sieges of Newark, Nottinghamshire.
King Henry VIII 1526: the first English half crown was struck in gold.
King Edward VI 1551: issued the first half crown in silver. The coin was dated and showed the king riding a horse.
Queen Mary I: the half crown was struck on Mary’s marriage to Philip II of Spain in 1554 but was never issued for circulation. Three specimens exist.
Queen Elizabeth I: gold half crowns were issued again. At the end of the reign silver half crowns were issued.
King James I: gold half crowns were issued again. During the reign silver half crowns were issued.
King Charles I: silver half crowns were issued, including those struck as obsidional money, money of necessity during the Civil War period.
Commonwealth of England: Oliver Cromwell silver half crowns were issued. During the years 1656 and 1658 milled half crowns were issued of Oliver Cromwell.
King Charles II 1663–1685: silver half crowns were issued, and this period saw the end of the hammered issue of half crowns.
King James II 1685–1688: silver half crown.
King William III & Queen Mary II 1689–1694: silver half crown.
William III of England 1694–1702: silver half crown.
Queen Anne 1702–1714: silver half crown.
King George I 1714–1727: silver half crown.
King George II 1727–1760: silver half crown.
King George III 1760–1820: silver half crown.
King George IV 1820–1830: silver half crown.
King William IV 1830–1837: silver half crown.
Queen Victoria 1837–1901: silver half crown.
King Edward VII 1902–1910: silver half crown.
King George V 1910–1936: silver half crown, sterling silver (92½% silver) until 1919, then 50% silver.
King Edward VIII 1936: 50% silver half crown. Not issued for circulation.
King George VI 1937–1952: 50% silver half crowns were issued until 1946 when the metal was changed to cupro-nickel.
Queen Elizabeth II 1953–1967: the last half crown for general circulation was issued in 1967, and the coin was withdrawn in 1970, before decimalisation. Proof sets of £sd coins, including the half crown, were issued by the Royal Mint, bearing the date 1970.
Size and weight
From 1816, in the reign of George III, half crown coins had a diameter of 32 mm and a weight of 14.14 grams (defined as 5⁄11 troy ounce[2]), dimensions which remained the same for the half crown until decimalisation in 1971.[3]
Mintages
The mintage figures below are taken from the annual UK publication Coin Yearbook.[4]
Half-crown mintages 1887–1970
Monarch Obverse variant Year Mintages
General Proof
Victoria Jubilee 1887 1,438,046 1,084
1888 1,428,787
1889 4,811,954
1890 3,228,111
1891 2,284,632
1892 1,710,946
Old head 1893 1,792,600 1,312
1894 1,524,960
1895 1,772,662
1896 2,148,505
1897 1,678,643
1898 1,870,055
1899 2,865,872
1900 4,479,128
1901 1,516,570
Edward VII 1902 1,316,008 15,123
1903 274,840
1904 709,652
1905 166,008
1906 2,886,206
1907 3,693,930
1908 1,758,889
1909 3,051,592
1910 2,557,685
George V 1911 2,914,573 6,007
1912 4,700,789
1913 4,090,169
1914 18,333,003
1915 32,433,066
1916 29,530,020
1917 11,172,052
1918 29,079,592
1919 10,266,737
1920 17,982,077
1921 23,677,889
1922 16,396,724
1923 26,308,526
1924 5,866,294
1925 1,413,461
1926 4,473,516
1927 6,837,872 15,000
1928 18,762,727
1929 17,632,636
1930 809,051
1931 11,264,468
1932 4,793,643
1933 10,311,494
1934 2,422,399
1935 7,022,216
1936 7,039,423
George VI 1937 9,106,440 26,402
1938 6,426,478
1939 15,478,635
1940 17,948,439
1941 15,773,984
1942 31,220,090
1943 15,462,875
1944 15255165
1945 19,849,242
1946 22,724,873
1947 21,911,484
1948 71,164,703
1949 28,272,512
1950 28,335,500 17,513
1951 9,003,520 20,000
1952 1[5]
Elizabeth II 1953 4,333,214 40,000
1954 11,614,953
1955 23,628,726
1956 33,934,909
1957 34,200,563
1958 15,745,668
1959 9,028,844
1960 19,929,191
1961 25,887,897
1962 24,013,312
1963 17,625,200
1964 5,973,600
1965 9,778,440
1966 13,375,200
1967 33,058,400
1970 0 750,000
Gallery
Edward VI half-crown, 1552
Edward VI half-crown, 1552
 
Gold half crown of James I
Gold half crown of James I
 
Charles I half-crown
Charles I half-crown
 
Half crown coin of Oliver Cromwell, 1658
Half crown coin of Oliver Cromwell, 1658
 
Half crown of Charles II, 1680
Half crown of Charles II, 1680
 
Half crown of James II, 1687
Half crown of James II, 1687
 
Half crown of 1691: William III and Mary II
Half crown of 1691: William III and Mary II
 
Half crown of William III, 1696
Half crown of William III, 1696
 
Half crown of Queen Anne
Half crown of Queen Anne
 
Half crown of George I, 1723
Half crown of George I, 1723
 
Half crown of George II, 1746
Half crown of George II, 1746
 
Half crown of George III, 1816
Half crown of George III, 1816
 
Half crown of George IV, 1821
Half crown of George IV, 1821
 
Half crown of William IV, 1836
Half crown of William IV, 1836
 
Half-crown of Victoria, 1885
Half-crown of Victoria, 1885
 
Half-crown of Victoria, 1888
Half-crown of Victoria, 1888
 
The reverse of the 1905, Edward VII, half crown
The reverse of the 1905, Edward VII, half crown
 
George V half crown, 1930
George V half crown, 1930
 
George VI half crown, 1948
George VI half crown, 1948
 
The obverse of the 1953, Elizabeth II, half crown
The obverse of the 1953, Elizabeth II, half crown
 
The reverse of the 1953, Elizabeth II, half crown
The reverse of the 1953, Elizabeth II, half crown
See also
icon Money portal
Numismatics portal
flag United Kingdom portal
Half crown (Irish coin)
References
 “Half-a-dollar”, Collins Dictionary. Retrieved 5 October 2022
 Kindleberger, Charles P. (2005). A Financial History of Western Europe. Taylor & Francis. p. 60. ISBN 978-0-415-37867-3.
 Tony Clayton. “Coins of the UK – Thirty Pence”. coins-of-the-uk.co.uk.
 “Coin, Banknote and Medal Collector’s Magazines. Token Publishing Numismatic Interest”. tokenpublishing.com.
 “Welcome to Colin Cooke Coins – Numismatics, Coins, Rarities – 1952 Halfcrown”. colincooke.com.
External links
cromwellcoins.com – view coins from the Commonwealth of England period, 1649–1660, including half crowns.
British Coins – free information about British coins (from 1656 to 1952). Includes an online forum.
Coins of the UK – a full history of the half crown.
The History of the Half-crown
Halfcrown, Coin Type from United Kingdom – Online Coin Club
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Easter Rising
Irish history
Also known as: Easter Rebellion
Written and fact-checked by 
Last Updated: Mar 14, 2025 • Article History
Quick Facts
Also called: Easter Rebellion
Date: April 24, 1916
Location: Dublin Ireland
Key People: Augustine Birrell James Connolly Eamon de Valera Maud Gonne Patrick Pearse
Top Questions
What was the Easter Rising?
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Easter Rising, Irish republican insurrection against British government in Ireland, which began on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, in Dublin. The insurrection was planned by Patrick Pearse, Tom Clarke, and several other leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which was a revolutionary society within the nationalist organization called the Irish Volunteers; the latter had about 16,000 members and was armed with German weapons smuggled into the country in 1914. These two organizations were supplemented by the Irish Citizen Army, an association of Dublin workers formed after the failure of the general strike of 1913, and by the small Sinn Féin party.
The uprising was planned to be nationwide in scope, but a series of mishaps led to its being confined to Dublin alone. The British had learned of the planned uprising and on April 21 arrested Irish nationalist Sir Roger Casement in County Kerry for running arms for the rebels. Eoin MacNeill, the leader of the Irish Volunteers, therefore canceled mobilization orders for the insurgents, but Pearse and Clarke went ahead with about 1,560 Irish Volunteers and a 200-man contingent of the Citizen Army. On April 24 their forces seized the Dublin General Post Office and other strategic points in Dublin’s city centre, and Pearse read aloud a proclamation announcing the birth of the Irish republic. British troops soon arrived to put down the rebellion, and for nearly a week Dublin was paralyzed by street fighting. British artillery bombardments compelled Pearse and his colleagues to surrender on April 29.
Pearse and 14 other leaders of the rebellion were court-martialed and executed by British authorities in the weeks that followed. Though the uprising itself had been unpopular with most of the Irish people, these executions excited a wave of revulsion against the British authorities and turned the dead republican leaders into martyred heroes. The Easter Rising signaled the start of the republican revolution in Ireland and led to the Irish War of Independence. Because Eamon de Valera was the senior survivor of the rising, he gained much of his personal popularity with the Irish people from that event.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
This article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.
World History
Wars, Battles & Armed Conflicts
Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence Children watching British soldiers in Dublin prepare for a “round up” of civilians during the Irish War of Independence, February 1921.
Irish War of Independence
Irish history
Also known as: Anglo-Irish War
Written and fact-checked by 
Article History
Quick Facts
Also called: Anglo-Irish War
Date: 1919 – 1921
Location: Ireland
Participants: Ireland Irish Republican Army United Kingdom
Key People: Robert Erskine Childers Michael Collins
Irish War of Independence, (1919–21), conflict that pitted Irish nationalists (republicans), who were pursuing independence from the United Kingdom for Ireland, against British security forces and Irish loyalists (unionists), who sought to preserve Ireland’s union with Great Britain. The war concluded with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921, which established 26 counties in the south of Ireland as the Irish Free State, with dominion status within the British Empire, while granting “Home Rule” to six predominantly Protestant counties in the north (Ulster), which remained a self-governing part of the United Kingdom. Dissension among nationalists over the agreement resulted in the Irish civil war (1922–23).
Pursuit of Home Rule
The pursuit of autonomy for Ireland within the United Kingdom escalated in the final decades of the 19th century. After the Home Rule bills of 1886 and 1893 were rejected by Parliament, a third such bill was enacted in September 1914, though it failed to satisfy many unionists and nationalists. Nevertheless, unionists had formed a paramilitary army, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), to try to block Home Rule, while nationalists created their own militia, the Irish Volunteers, as a counterforce. The mounting pressure was reduced when attention shifted to support for the British war effort at the outbreak of World War I. Moreover, because of the onset of the war, the Home Rule Act (formally the Government of Ireland Act, 1914) was immediately suspended for 12 months. Because of subsequent developments, its implementation would later be postponed again and ultimately would never occur.
The Easter Rising
As World War I dragged on, support increased for an extreme nationalist faction of the Irish Volunteers that opposed involvement in the British war effort. The Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), a revolutionary society that held sway over this faction, had been planning an insurrection against British rule since 1914, and on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, a revolt led by the IRB broke out in Dublin involving about 1,000 men and women. A provisional Irish republican government was proclaimed, and the Dublin General Post Office and other strategic points in Dublin’s city centre were seized. After about a week of street fighting, the rebellion was squelched, and Tom Clarke, Patrick Pearse, and other republican leaders were forced to surrender. Their executions made martyrs of them and sparked an explosion of anti-British outrage, which only increased when it appeared that conscription might be introduced in Ireland.
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A History of War
The 1918 election
Eamon de Valera
Eamon de Valera
The Easter Rising and the groundswell of support for republicanism that it had catalyzed reversed the political fortunes of John Redmond, who had engineered passage of the 1914 Home Rule Act and promised full Irish support to the Allies in World War I. The general election of 1918 resulted in the defeat and virtual extinction of Redmond’s Irish Parliamentary Party. On the other hand, Sinn Féin—the Irish nationalist party, which had been of little importance before the Easter Rising but thereafter became the rallying point for extreme nationalist sentiment—won 73 of the 105 Irish seats in the British Parliament. Led by Eamon de Valera, the chief survivor of the uprising’s leadership, Sinn Féin MPs ref to take their seats in the Westminster Parliament. Instead, they met in Dublin in January 1919 as the Dáil Éireann (“Irish Assembly”), declaring themselves the parliament of an Irish republic and setting up a provisional government in opposition to Ireland’s British administration.
The Irish Republican Army
Michael Collins
Michael CollinsMichael Collins, 1919.
In the meantime, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was created in 1919 as a successor to the Irish Volunteers to use armed force to resist British rule in Ireland. Thus began the Irish War of Independence, in which the IRA, under the leadership of Michael Collins, employed guerrilla tactics, mounting widespread ambushes, raids, and attacks on police barracks. The British forces responded with ruthless reprisals.
Black and Tans
When a large proportion of the Irish police resigned, the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) was filled with British recruits, most of whom were jobless former soldiers. They became known as Black and Tans because of the dark police tunics and khaki military trousers they were issued as makeshift uniforms.
Bloody Sunday
In seeking to combat the terrorism of the IRA, the Black and Tans engaged in brutal counteractions. Most notably, after the IRA killed at least 14 individuals (most of whom were English and were suspected of being intelligence agents) on November 21, 1920, the Black and Tans took revenge the same day by attacking spectators at a Gaelic football match in Croke Park, Dublin, killing 14 and wounding 60. The event became known as Bloody Sunday.
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Death toll and truce
Irish War of Independence
Irish War of IndependenceBritish soldiers searching the debris of Customs House, Dublin, after it was burned by the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during the Irish War of Independence in May 1921.
By the end of 1920, about 500 people had been killed in the war. In the first half of 1921, approximately another 1,000 persons had died as a result of the conflict. Meanwhile, about 6,000 republicans were put in prison. By the summer of 1921—though the IRA was becoming short of manpower, weapons, and ammunition—no immediate end to the war was in sight. Nonetheless, a truce was reached on July 11, 1921, and talks on a political settlement began.
The Anglo-Irish Treaty
In October 1921 Collins and Arthur Griffith were sent to London by de Valera to conduct negotiations. The resulting Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed on December 6, 1921, by Collins (as well as Griffith), who believed that it was the best that could be obtained for Ireland at the time. The settlement established two new political entities: the Irish Free State, which comprised 26 counties and was granted dominion status within the British Empire (requiring an oath of allegiance to the British crown that Collins knew would be unacceptable to de Valera and other republican leaders); and Northern Ireland, made up of six counties that were sometimes called the province of Ulster, which remained part of the United Kingdom.
The path to the Irish Civil War
Collins’s persuasiveness helped win acceptance for the treaty by a small majority in the Dáil. But the terms of the treaty did indeed prove unacceptable to a substantial number of Sinn Féin members and split the party into two factions, one (under Collins’s leadership) supporting the treaty and the other (under de Valera) opposing it. The former group became the core of the official Irish Free State Army, and the latter group, known as “Irregulars,” began to organize armed resistance against the new independent government. The two sides fought against each other in the ensuing Irish civil war (1922–23), which ended in the defeat of the anti-treaty forces.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeff Wallenfeldt.
World History
Wars, Battles & Armed Conflicts
Irish Civil War
Irish Civil War Soldiers of the National Army facing a crowd outside Mountjoy Prison during the final days of the Irish Civil War, Dublin, April 1923.
Irish Civil War
Irish history
Written and fact-checked by 
Last Updated: Feb 25, 2025 • Article History
Quick Facts
Date: 1922 – 1923
Location: Ireland
Key People: Eamon de Valera
On the Web: Queen’s University Belfast – The silence and the silence-breakers of the Irish Civil War (PDF) (Feb. 25, 2025)
Irish Civil War, conflict in Ireland from June 1922 to May 1923 between those who supported the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921), which ended the Irish War of Independence, and those who opposed the treaty. The treaty, which created an independent Irish Free State within the British Empire, was tremendously divisive, partly because it required members of the new Irish parliament, the Dáil, to pledge their allegiance to the British monarch. The anti-treaty faction was led by Eamon de Valera; the pro-treaty provisional government was headed by Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith. After government forces established control of Dublin and most of the country’s largest cities, the war evolved into a guerrilla conflict that ended when the anti-treaty forces concluded that victory was beyond their grasp.
1916
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This article is about the year 1916. For the album by Motörhead, see 1916 (album).
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1916 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar 1916
MCMXVI
Ab urbe condita 2669
Armenian calendar 1365
ԹՎ ՌՅԿԵ
Assyrian calendar 6666
Baháʼí calendar 72–73
Balinese saka calendar 1837–1838
Bengali calendar 1322–1323
Berber calendar 2866
British Regnal year 6 Geo. 5 – 7 Geo. 5
Buddhist calendar 2460
Burmese calendar 1278
Byzantine calendar 7424–7425
Chinese calendar 乙卯年 (Wood Rabbit)
4613 or 4406
    — to —
丙辰年 (Fire Dragon)
4614 or 4407
Coptic calendar 163

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