Date: 2018

2018 Bram Stoker’s Dracula €15 silver proof coin (Limited edition)

• Issued by: The Central Bank of Ireland
• Issue Date: 26th October 2018
  • Coin launched by Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Sharon Donnery at Glasnevin Cemetery where she presented the coin to the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe
  • Ms Donnery said:
    • “Bram Stoker created one of the most iconic characters in all of literature and film, and it is only fitting that we should honour him with this coin, which depicts the figure of Dracula looming behind his moonlit castle in Transylvania.”
• Issue Limit: 3,000 pieces
  • Designer: David Rooney (Ireland)
• Quality:
  • Proof strike
  • Sterling Silver 0.925 fine
• Weight: 28.28 g
• Diameter: 38.61 mm 
  

Description:

This 2018 €15 Silver Proof coin pays tribute to the life of Abraham Stoker, the author of the novel ‘Dracula’, which was published in 1897 and is widely considered the most influential horror novel of all times.

• Abraham (Bram) Stoker was born in 1847 at 15 Marino Crescent, Clontarf, Dublin
• He studied at Trinity College, Dublin where he developed a love of theatre
• He graduated with a BA in 1870, and pursued his MA in 1875.
  • He later recalled graduating “with honours in mathematics,” as a mistake
  • In addition to his studies at Trinity, he was:
    • Auditor of the College Historical Society (the Hist)
    • President of the University Philosophical Society (the Phil), where his first paper was on ‘Sensationalism in Fiction and Society‘

While working for the Irish Civil Service, he became the theatre critic for the Dublin Evening Mail, which was co-owned by Sheridan Le Fanu, an author of Gothic tales. Theatre critics were held in low esteem back then, but he attracted notice by the quality of his reviews. In December 1876, he gave a favourable review of Henry Irving’s Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Dublin.

• Irving invited Stoker for dinner at the Shelbourne Hotel where he was staying, and they became friends.
  • For 27 years he was manager of Sir Henry Irving’s Lyceum Theatre in London

Stoker’s famous novel Dracula, which was published in 1897, became world-renowned after an American film adaptation starring Bela Lugosi opened in 1931 but the first film adaptation of Dracula was F. W. Murnau’s Nosferatu, released in 1922, with Max Schreck starring as Count Orlok.

Florence Stoker eventually sued the filmmakers, and was represented by the attorneys of the British Incorporated Society of Authors. Her chief legal complaint was that she had neither been asked for permission for the adaptation nor paid any royalty. The case dragged on for some years, with Mrs. Stoker demanding the destruction of the negative and all prints of the film. The suit was finally resolved in the widow’s favour in July 1925.

• To date, more than 1,000 novels and 200 films have been made about Count Dracula, making him the most portrayed literary character in history

His other horror stories included:

• ‘The Lady of the Shroud‘ (1909)
• ‘The Lair of the White Worm‘ (1911)

Stoker’s other literary works include:

• ‘The Crystal Cup’ (publ. by The London Society in 1872)
• ‘The Primrose Path‘ (1875)
• ‘The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland’ (Non-fiction book, publ. 1879)
• ‘The Snake’s Pass’ (1890)
• ‘The Watter’s Mou’ (1895)
• ‘The Shoulder of Shasta’ (1895)
• Miss Betty (1898)
• The Mystery of the Sea (1902)
• The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903, revised 1912)
• The Man (1905); issued also as The Gates of Life
• Lady Athlyne (1908)

Other Irish Commemorative Proof Coins in this Series: