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Central bank
# Eileen Gray
First collector coin commemorating an Irish woman issued by Central Bank
The first coin features one of Gray’s most iconic designs.
THE CENTRAL BANK has today issued a €10 collector coin celebrating renowned Irish designer and architect Eileen Gray.
The coin is the first ever issued by the Central Bank commemorating the achievements of an Irish woman.
The coin features a portrait of Gray in front of a representative image of one of her most iconic modernist designs ‘Screen’. The silver proof coin was designed by Italian artist Sandra Deiana.
Deiana said she was “immediately struck by the idea of designing a coin to pay tribute to a female artist who worked in a period when it was still difficult to succeed in the world of work, especially in the arts”.
Sharon Donnery, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank presented the first coin to the National Museum of Ireland earlier today, commenting that it was fitting for her to be the first woman on a collector coin as she was a “pre-eminent figure within the Modernist movement”.
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