Wood’s

Halfpence was a copper coinage for Ireland patented by William Wood for the English Government in 1722. The excellent Wood was to share his profits—or the difference between the real and the nominal value of the coins—with the king's mistre , the Duche of Kendal. But Swift's 44 Drapier's Letters ” roused such public indignation against the job that it was abandoned—and Wood was compensated with a pension.