Irish one pound coin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One Pound Punt

Red Deer

The one pound coin was introduced on 20 June 1990. The design is of a red deer, by the Irish artist Tom Ryan, and based on photographs taken by Sean Ryan¹ of red deer from the Irish national deer herd in Killarney National Park. In 2000 a coin was issued in honor of the new millennium. The design was based on the "Broighter Boat" in the National Museum of Ireland. Alan Ardiff and Garrett Stokes designed the coin. The coin was first issued on 29 November 1999.

Broighter Boat

The Irish pound coin, which was introduced in 1990, remains the largest Irish coin introduced since decimalisation at 3.11 centimetres diameter. Its mass was 10 grams. The coin was almost identical in dimensions to the old penny coin that circulated before 1971, and was quite similar in diameter to, but thinner than, the half-crown coin. The edge was milled, and a dotted line runs along the edge of each face.

During the early circulation of the coin, many payphone and vending machines which had been changed to accept the pound coin also accepted the old penny instead, the latter coin no longer legal tender and of little value to collectors. As a result, losses accrued to vending machine operators due to the substitution of the penny coin, and further costs were associated with updating the machines so they would no longer accept the pennies improperly.