Ireland Irish Free State Half-Penny 1928 EF+ (Patine)

Excellent scarce higher grade bronze coin struck within a set from 1928 to 1937. To note the mellow brown patine. A race of tall red-haired Celts from Gaul arrived in Ireland about 400 B.C., assimilated the native Erainn and Picts and established a Gaelic civilization. After the arrival of St.Patrick in 432A.D., Ireland evolved into a center of Latin learning, which sent missionars to Europe. possibly North of America in 1154. Pope Adrian IV gave all of Ireland to English King Henry II, to administer as Papal fief. Because of the enactment of anti-Catholic laws, and the awarding of vast tracts of Irish land to protestant absentee landowners, English control did not become reasonable absolute until 1800, when England abd Ireland became the "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". Religious freedom was restored to the Irish in 1829, but agitation for political autonomy continued until the Irish Free State was established as a dominion on Dec 6, 1921. Ireland proclaimed itself a Republic on April 18, 1949. The government , however, did not use the term "Republic of Ireland", which tacitly acknowledges the partitioning of the Island into Ireland and Northern Ireland, but refers to the country simply as 'Ireland'.