1 Farthing - Charles I Richmond issue, type 8

The Richmond farthings were issued under a patent granted to Ludovic Stuart, Duke of Richmond, giving him the profitable right to produce these small copper pieces for Irish circulation. Charles I inherited the patent system from his father — James I had pioneered private farthing tokens as a way to solve the chronic shortage of low-denomination coinage without committing royal metal — and the Irish issues ran parallel to, but distinct from, the contemporary English series. Type 8 within the Richmond sequence represents one of the later die progressions before the patent eventually passed to other hands.