Ireland 2007 15 Euros silver Proof medal-coin.

[BC Numismatics]

Ireland has issued a 15 Euros silver Proof medal-coin to commemorate Ivan Mestrovic as part of a joint issue with Croatia.Like the Croatian medal-coin,the Irish medal-coin was struck at the Croatian Mint in Zagreb.There were around 40,000 coins struck.

Some British Commonwealth numismatists are collecting this.

Aidan.

[BC Numismatics]

Here's a link depicting some photos of what this medal-coin looks like; http://www.muntplaats.nl/item.php?p_id=5202&sid=&lang= .

Aidan.

[Figleaf]

Ireland has finally fallen for the lore of the pseudo coin. Up until the introduction of the euro, you could argue that the only NCLT ever issued in Ireland was the 10 shillings Patrick Pearse and the Easter Rising is certainly a momentuous point in Irish history.

By contrast, the 15 euros (one of those impractical denominations) for Ivan Mestrovic is for a minor occasion: Ivan Mestrovic submitted a design for the first coinage of the Irish Free State in 1927. He was based in the United States and, due to the communication challenges of the time, his design arrived too late for consideration. However, the design was subsequently adopted by the Central Bank as its official seal.

Sadly, although the Central Bank calls these pieces "collectors coins", giving at least some indication of its status, they couldn't resist the "investment" angle: Speaking at the inaugural Dr. Ante ?i?in-?ain Lecture, hosted by the Irish Croatian Business Association, Governor Hurley said: ?It already promises to be a very popular collector?s item?.

Both quotes are from the Central Bank website.

Peter

[BC Numismatics]

Peter,the Irish silver 10 Shillings was actually issued as a circulation coin.Despite having the portrait of Patrick Pearse on the obverse & the statue of Cuchulainn on the reverse,the coin was unpopular for these 2 reasons;

The people were unfamiliar with 10/- as a coinage denomination.

The people preferred to use the 10/- banknote.

Because of this,the 10/- coin was called in,& a majority were melted down.The British Commonwealth coin collectors are always looking for this coin.There are some errors in the Erse (Irish-Gaelic) inscription on the edge that are worth looking out for.

Aidan.

[BC Numismatics]

Kevin,
  This thread will be of interest to you.

Aidan.

[blackev]

Aidan if you class coins not intended for circulation as medals then you are right there has been only 4 medals before the euro (although the millennium £1 is a bit odd considering the exchange for the euro was set)
the 15 euro coin was not the first euro medal coin, there was the 2 Special Olympics (€5 & €10) , the accession medal in 2004 (€10), Sir William Rowan Hamilton in 2005 (€10), Samuel Beckett in 2006 (€10 & €20) then was the €15 medal in 2007.

[chrisild]

I do know that whenever people can choose between a coin and a banknote they'll prefer the banknote. This is not always clear to policy wonks and politicians.

Seems that the Germans do not know about that either. In the DM years, when we had a choice, the 5 mark coin was much more popular than its poor neglected note sibling. And I guess that, if we had a choice today, people would prefer a €5 circulation coin over those filthy pieces of paper ...

Errm, back to that €15 piece. Since in the discussion about mintmarks the Irish and Croatian designs came up again, this brochure may be interesting. The folder, in English and Croatian, may have been a joint release like the coins.
http://www.hnb.hr/numiz/zla-sre/mestrovic/letak_serbrnjak_mestrovic.pdf

Shows both the Irish and Croatian designs, and - on the second page - the original design that these collector coins are decidated to.

Christian