Copper, 7.40 grams; 26.23 mm. 1760 A.D. Nelson type 4. Obverse: VOCE POPULI (Voice of the People), Laureate bust of the personification of the people facing right. Reverse: HIBERNIA, Hibernia seated left, with harp. Dated 1680 below. Jerry Zelinka, "The Enigmatic Voce Populi Halfpenny of 1760," The Colonial Newsletter 15 (October 1976, serial no. 47), 556-65, discusses the coin as well as describing and illustrating 16 different die combinations. Also see Philip Nelson, The Coinage of Ireland in Copper, Tin and Pewter (Liverpool, 1904 and 1905, reprinted: London: Spink, 1959), Dowle and Finn, The Guide Book to the Coinage of Ireland, 1969; Peter Seaby, Coins and Tokens of Ireland, Seaby's Standard Catalogue, Part 3, London: B.A. Seaby, 1970, pp. 143-144 and 81-83; and Philip Mossman, "The Circulation of Irish Coinage in Pre-Federal America," The Colonial Newsletter, vol. 39, no. 1 (April, 1999, serial no. 110) 1899-1917, on p. 1914 and figure 10 on p. 1915. A similar example of a Nelson type 4 Voce Populi halfpenny realised $920.00 in the auction of The Benson Collection, Part III, February 24-25, 2003, Lot 14. Good Very Fine.

By 1760 small coppers were scarce in Ireland. No royal Irish farthings had been issued since 1744 and no royal Irish halfpence since 1755. Issues of both denominations were scheduled to be minted in 1760 but apparently they did not arrive in Ireland until 1762. It has been speculated this was partly due to the death of George II in October of 1760. Under these circumstances underweight Voce Populi farthings and halfpence first appeared in Dublin. Very little is known about the origins of these coins, all of which carry the date 1760. Traditionally they have been attributed to a man named Roche who was a button maker on South King Street in Dublin. It is thought these coppers may have continued to be produced through 1761 using the 1760 dated dies. It is generally assumed their production ceased by 1762 when the regal 1760 coppers finally arrived. It appears both the regal and Voce coppers continued to circulate. Over time these issues were supplemented with regal George III Irish halfpence (produced in 1766, 1769, 1774-1776 and 1781-1782) and many lightweight counterfeit and imitation Irish coppers.