1/2 Penny - George II small letters

Ireland's copper coinage in this period was not produced by the Irish Mint — there was none — but contracted out to private minters in Britain, a system that had caused serious political friction since Wood's Halfpence scandal of the 1720s, when Swift's Drapier's Letters mobilized Irish public opinion against a private patent granted to William Wood. By the 1730s the Crown was more cautious, but the contracted production model remained. The "small letters" distinction separates this emission from the preceding large-letter varieties and reflects a die modification mid-series rather than any change in issuing authority or monetary policy.