OREANDA-NEWS. The Central Bank of Ireland has today (10 September 2015) unveiled the winning designs for the 2016 coins to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising.

There are two designs.  The first will be used on €2 coins to be issued into general circulation in January 2016.  This circulating €2 coin will also be included in a proof set and an annual mint set. The second will be used for the Central Bank’s gold and silver proof collector coins which will be available in March 2016. 

The winning designs feature depictions of the statue of Hibernia, the historic personification of Ireland, on top of the GPO in Dublin, the headquarters of the provisional government during the Rising.

This is the first time Ireland will issue its own commemorative €2 circulation coin and the design for this coin was by Emmet Mullins.   The coin features a representation of Hibernia, the centenary dates and the name ‘Hibernia’ in hand-rendered lettering influenced by the Book of Kells. 

The winning design for the proof silver and gold collector coins is by Michael Guilfoyle.  His design commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, which was read by Patrick Pearse outside the GPO on 24 April 1916.  On this coin Hibernia features along with an arrangement of key words and phrases from the Proclamation.

The obverse of the coin bears the traditional representation of the Irish harp and the year of issue date, 2016. 

The Central Bank  plans to issue a €10 silver proof coin, as part of the European Silver programme in October 2015 to mark the 70th Anniversary of Peace in Europe.

Also in October the Central Bank will issue 1,000,000 pieces of a commemorative €2 coin to celebrate ’30 Years of the European Flag’. This coin is being issued this year by all 19 euro-issuing member states. This is the fourth time that Eurozone nations will participate in a joint circulating commemorative €2 coin programme, following similar programs in 2007, 2009 and 2012. A design by a coin engraver at the Bank of Greece, George Stamatopoulos was chosen in an online poll by the European Commission. The Central Bank will issue 1,000 proof sets containing this commemorative €2 coin.