05 Oct Ireland’s First Coins: The Story of the 1928 Coinage
In 1928, the Irish Free State introduced a distinctive national coinage. The new coins combined the harp with a series of animal and bird designs, creating imagery that would remain familiar in Irish life for generations.
The story brought together an Irish cultural figure, an international design competition and an artist whose work gave each denomination a clear identity. Today, surviving 1928 coins mark the beginning of this important chapter in Irish design.
Creating coinage for the Irish Free State
The Coinage Act 1926 provided for a separate Irish Free State coinage. The practical challenge was also a cultural one: the coins needed to work as everyday money while presenting an identity that was recognisably Irish.
A committee was established to advise on the designs. Rather than placing a political leader on the coins, the chosen direction centred on the harp and native animals.
W. B. Yeats and the Irish Coinage Committee
Poet W. B. Yeats chaired the committee. The group recommended the harp for one side of the coins and an animal theme for the other, giving the complete series a coherent visual character.
This approach avoided party-political imagery and allowed the denominations to be distinguished by their own animals and birds.
Percy Metcalfe’s winning designs
English sculptor Percy Metcalfe won the international design competition. His designs paired the harp with eight animal and bird subjects across the original pre-decimal denominations.
The result was a coin series that was practical, visually consistent and closely associated with Ireland. Metcalfe’s adapted harp was based on the Brian Ború Harp in Trinity College Dublin.
The animals on Ireland’s first coins
The 1928 series featured a woodcock, sow and piglets, hen and chicks, hare, Irish wolfhound, bull, salmon and Irish hunter horse. Each design corresponded to a different denomination, from the farthing through to the half-crown.
See the complete denomination-by-denomination guide in Old Irish Coin Designs Explained.
Why 1928 Irish coins are special today
A genuine 1928 coin comes from the first year of the Irish Free State series. Its design identifies the denomination, while the date connects the object to the beginning of the coinage.
Condition and availability vary because these are original coins rather than newly produced replicas. The historical importance of the year makes 1928 especially relevant for an Irish heritage collection.
Genuine 1928 Irish coin cufflinks
Irish Coin Cufflinks handcrafts genuine Irish coins into wearable keepsakes in Dalkey, Co. Dublin. Explore the 1928 Irish coin collection, including 1928 Irish Threepence Cufflinks and 1928 Irish Sixpence Cufflinks.
For more meaningful-year and ancestry-led options, browse our Irish heritage gifts.