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THE CENTRAL BANK of Ireland has today launched a €15 limited issue silver proof collector coin to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth of William Butler Yeats.
The Irish poet and Nobel laureate was born in 1865.
Speaking as the coin was launched, Central Bank Commission member, Des Geraghty said the coin honours Yeats, who is one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature.
Yeats was central to the creation of both our first National Theatre and our first National Coinage and one could hardly think of a more appropriate place to launch a coin celebrating the 150th Anniversary of his birth than the Abbey Theatre.
The coin features Yeats as the artist, the poet and the romantic. The strands of his hair entwine with the linnets and bees, from his much-loved poem, The Lake Isle of Innisfree.
The coin was designed by Mary Gregory and has an issue limit of 8,000 units.
It will be on sale to the public from today and coins can be bought by downloading an order form from the Central Bank website, by calling 1890 307 607 or directly from the Central Bank on Dame Street in Dublin at a cost of €44.
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€15 coin costs €44 to buy? Licence to print money anyone?
do you actually think the idea here is that people will pay €44 for €15 of legal tender?
How much is the silver worth? Producing a limited edition proof coin also has a cost associated with it!
well they are the Central Bank so technically yes they have a licence to print money
Genuine question here…does anyone actually buy these as collectors items?
I do!!! Have a good few of them now. They are nice to have. Every year there is something different to celebrate a part of our culture and history.
Good grief, ask a question and some muppet decides to red thumb.
Cool John, it’s a pretty interesting range to collect. Pricey though!
I do! I love coins, for some reason.
The James Joyce coin with the incorrect text has doubled in value in a couple of years!
I collect bank notes with dictators on them
Did you think people bought them to SPEND them??? €44 for €15?
I treasure the ten shilling Padraic Pearse commemorative silver coin my father bought for me in 1966 for the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising.
Wow. What better way to commemorate the poet who penned the lines “…what need you being come to sense but fumble in a greasy till and add the halfpence to the pence”, than to put his face on a coin.
Does this mean he will come up on English paper two today plz :)(::(
Buy for €44 and sell to some rich yank in a decade or so for a healthy profit
Coin collecting is a great pastime. If you want to learn the history of the world start collecting. Before newspapers TV or the internet all advertising was done on coins. Since 700 BC. nearly every king,Ruler, Conqueror struck coins with his head on it. Curiously the Irish were one of the last to do so. We are only using coins here for about 3/400 years. Join the Irish Numismatic Society.
I’d say it’s the silver content
why not make 8000 units of €1 coins with his face on it rather than the harp? then over the years millions of people would see the face of yates. these €15 coins will probably be locked away, and may not see the light of day too much.
That’s how coin collecting is. If its not silver and well struck there will not be a lot of interest in it. A Euro coin costs more than a euro to produce . Coin and note values are promissory nothing to do with actual value. A whole world of learning out there for everyone. Irish coins are amount the scarcest and rarest and most valuable in the world because there are not a lot of us.
€1 coins are a no go. €2 coins are allowed, but the Central Bank doesn’t like making them (it’s only ever made ones it was obliged to by the ECB).
Also, I’m pretty sure a €1 coin does NOT cost more than €1 to produce. A 1c coin is a different story.
Gerard there is also the length of time coins spend in circulation 10-20 years and longer to take into consideration when applying cost of minting.
I bet they are all snapped up by the staff and relatives of the bank staff.
Celtic tiger? Recession? €15 sold for €44?? Well you can stop trying to convince me – we’re idiot’s!!!
Agree the irony.
Such coins ARE legal tender, but only in the issuing State (not the whole of the Eurozone).
But no one in their right mind would use it as such. They’re legal tender, but not intended for wide circulation, just like when you buy proof editions of coins. You could use them if you wanted to, but that would defeat the purpose of buying them.
The will be a 1916 100 year commerative coin for general circulation very soon, great news .
Why does the Central Bank never bring out ANY usable commemorative coins?
The only ones it has ever produced since the ECB started allowing such coins, were ones it was FORCED to produce (50th Anniversary of Treaty of Rome etc.). It has produced countless glorified souvenirs that once bought, will never see the light of day again, and yet can never be bothered to produce any that people can actually use (except when forced to).
I just bought one. I’m going to send it to my new mate in Nigeria. In part payment for the $500,000 he’s promised to get for me
Why is the portrait not lifelike?
On the other side of the coin is Kabbalistic Christianity scribbles? lol.
Is it an ounce of fine silver, four nines ? If so, it’s twice the price of a maple or Eagle coin of similar weight.
Ironic, given what he said in the opening verse of “September 1913″.
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