LEGAL WARNINGS ON FLAWED JAMES JOYCE COIN

THE Central Bank has declined to comment on revelations that it was warned about potential design and copyright problems before it issued a flawed James Joyce commemorative coin.

The €10 silver coin sold out within two days of being issued last month despite carrying on its front an error in a quotation from Joyce's most famous work, 'Ulysses', alongside an image of the author that was not approved by his estate.

Documents released under Freedom of Information legislation reveal that Department of Finance officials alerted the Central Bank on at least two occasions about the possibility of difficulties with the James Joyce estate over copyright and design of the coin.

To read the complete article, see: Central Bank got legal alert on Joyce coin (www.independent.ie/irish-news/central-bank-got-legal-alert-on-joyce-coin-29294954.html)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: JAMES JOYCE COIN QUOTATION ERROR (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v16n15a24.html)

Joyce's grandson, Stephen Joyce, described the coin as "one of the greatest insults to the Joyce family that has ever been perpetrated in Ireland".

The documents released to RTÉ News show that the Central Bank Numismatic Advisory Committee originally wanted to mint a collectors' coin this year commemorating Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, as part of a Europa series on prominent European writers.

However, the Department of Finance urged that Joyce might be a more suitable choice, with more international appeal. It also noted that "there may be problems with copyright in the case of a Joyce coin", according to the minutes of a meeting between officials from the department and the bank last May.

An internal submission to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan a month later noted that the bank had suggested a number of other prominent Irish writers as options, including William Butler Yeats, Seán O'Casey, Bram Stoker and Maria Edgeworth, as well as Swift.

The submission added that the department was instead recommending "James Joyce as the first option with William Butler Yeats as the second option in the event that difficulties are encountered with the Joyce estate in terms of the coin design".

Aside from the textual error, the image of James Joyce on the front of the coin also displeased his grandson, Stephen, who manages the author's estate. He told the Irish Times that the image was "the most unlikely likeness of Joyce ever produced".

He also complained that the errors would have been avoided if the Central Bank had consulted him properly.

To read the complete article, see: Central Bank warned in advance over Joyce coin (www.rte.ie/news/2013/0524/452296-central-bank-joyce-coin/)

Wayne Homren, Editor

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web