2019-10-09 Wed

Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth.

Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. Despite the two jurisdictions using two distinct currencies (the euro and pound sterling), a growing amount of commercial activity is carried out on an all-Ireland basis.

The Irish pound was the currency of Ireland until 2002 when it was replaced by the euro. Today we are discussing the 10 Pounds banknote that was in issue from 1993 to 1999. The obverse the portrait of a writer James Joyce to right with Dublin and Wicklow and Dublin Bay depicted in the background centre.

The reverse depicts one of the fourteen heads on The Custom House, Dublin, a sculpture by Edward Smyth, to left: the head represents River Liffey. The background has a nineteenth century map of Dublin; overwritten on it a Part of "Finnegans Wake", James Joyce's final novel, with the signature of James Joyce to bellow. This brown-green note has the portrait of Lady Hazel Lavery as watermark.

Image Courtesy: PicClick