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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kaparthy, post: 487924, member: 57463&quot;]-&gt; Eire is now in the European Union, but their coins still have the Harp as their national symbol, though the animals are gone.&nbsp; The coin pictured at the top from CW5000 is lovely with luster in the fields, definitely a keeper.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Transcript No. 1161&nbsp;&nbsp; March 17, 1997 </p><p>IRELAND&#039;S POET LAUREATE by Michael Marotta </p><p><br /></p><p>William Butler Yeats won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923.&nbsp; He was regarded as the greatest poet of his time.&nbsp; What you may not know though is that Yeats was also in charge of the committee that designed Ireland&#039;s present series of coins. </p><p><br /></p><p>Yeats was born in Dublin on June 13, 1865.&nbsp; At that time Ireland was completely under the control of England.&nbsp; While working in England, Yeats joined other Irish patriots who eventually won independence for the Emerald Isle.&nbsp; A world-renown playwright and poet, Yeats was elected to the Irish Senate.&nbsp; He chaired the committee that chose the designs for the coins of the new Irish Free State. </p><p><br /></p><p>Yeats had seen classical Greek coins while studying and writing in Italy during the late 1800s.&nbsp; He arranged for all of the artists on this project to receive ancient Hellenistic coins, so they could see for themselves the powerful images he wanted to bring to Ireland&#039;s coins.&nbsp; But, the committee and the artists who would be designing the coins were limited by two things.&nbsp; In the words of Yeats: &quot;Our coins must pitch and spin to please the gambler, and pack into rolls to please the banker.&quot;&nbsp; William Yeats died on January 28, 1939, at the age of 73. </p><p><br /></p><p>After seventy years, Ireland&#039;s coins have changed little from the winning designs of Percy Metcalf, a young sculptor recommended by the British School in Rome and selected by Yeats&#039; committee.&nbsp; The horse, bull, salmon, hound and other animals of Ireland&#039;s eight circulating coins were all joined by a common symbol of Ireland&#039;s poetic tradition: the Celtic harp. </p><p><br /></p><p>Today&#039;s program was written by Michael Marotta.&nbsp; Take a tour of ANA&#039;s virtual Money Museum on the web at <a href="http://www.money.org" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.money.org" rel="nofollow">www.money.org</a>. &quot;Money Talks&quot; is a copyrighted production of the American Numismatic Association, 818 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, CO 80903, 719/632-2646, a...@money.org, <a href="http://www.money.org" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.money.org" rel="nofollow">http://www.money.org</a>.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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