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1/2 Penny - Voce Populi
| Issuer | Ireland |
|---|---|
| Year | 1760 |
| Type | Emergency coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The allegorical figure of Hibernia seated facing left on a rocky plinth, her right arm raised and her left arm resting on an Irish harp positioned to her right side. She holds a palm branch in her right hand, symbolising peace. The legend HIBERNIA arcs around the upper periphery, while the date 1760 appears in the exergue along the lower rim. The composition closely follows the conventional Hibernia type employed on official Irish coinage of the period. |
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| Reverse lettering | HIBERNIA 1760 (Translation: Ireland) |
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| Additional information |
The "Voce Populi" halfpennies of 1760 were privately struck — almost certainly in Dublin — by an unknown issuer exploiting the chronic shortage of small copper coinage in Ireland, where official regal provision had lapsed for decades. The Latin motto translates as "voice of the people," a phrase with obvious political charge given Ireland's constitutional grievances with Westminster at the time. Whether the issuer intended a political statement or simply filled a commercial vacuum remains unresolved.
A variant exists with a "P" before the bust, the meaning of which has never been satisfactorily explained. These pieces later circulated in colonial America as well, and they appear in several documented hoards recovered from the northeastern seaboard.