1/2 Penny - John Second 'DOMinus' Coinage, Kilkenny

John held the Lordship of Ireland from 1177 under his father Henry II, and this Kilkenny issue belongs to his second coinage series — distinguished by the DOMINUS legend acknowledging his lordship title rather than any royal claim. Kilkenny was one of a handful of Irish mints operating under John's authority, alongside Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick, each producing coins of notoriously variable weight and die workmanship.

The halfpenny denomination was cut from whole pennies in much of Europe during this period, but John's Irish issues struck fractional denominations outright — an administrative decision that speaks to the genuine demand for small change in Irish commercial life.