Sheet of 1/2 p Irish postage stamps

"In 1966 Heinrich Gerl, a German designer won an international competition to design a new set of postage stamps for Ireland. For some denominations an image of a dog in stylised form was used, it was based on a decoration on an ancient brooch from Killamery, Co Kilkenny, which was in the national museum. The stamps are peculiar in that the E in the word Éire does not have a fada. The same design was carried through on decimalisation in 1971 but the colour on the ½p stamp was changed from orange to green and the p was dropped. My uncle Gerry was the postmaster in Drimnagh post office at the time and he persuaded me to purchase a sheet of the older orange ½p stamps at a cost of ten shillings. He said that between their introduction in 1968 and being discontinued in 1971 there was not a great number being sold. He believed that they would be a good investment. Whatever their monetary value, I find them a very interesting work of art which i would very much like to share with you."