James Joyce coins for sale on Ebay at a healthy profit

Collectors' coins in honour of James Joyce launched less than two weeks ago are being sold on Ebay at what seems to be a very healthy profit.

The silver proof "€10" coins, which were sold for €46, were launched by the Central Bank and feature a portrait of the writer with the first lines from chapter three of Ulysses.

One of the coins had reached €147.50 at 18 bids on Ebay this evening, and was due to sell by 10.30pm. Another was quoting €127.50, also at 18 bids, in an auction due to end tomorrow evening.

Another of the coins was listed under the Buy it Now function for €155.

A fourth was quoting €54.50 at nine bids with the best part of three days left until the sale closes.

Only 10,000 of the coins were issued, and they were sold out two days afterwards. They have attracted particular attention for an error contained within the quote.

The Central Bank coin mistakenly included the word “that” in the second sentence included. The bank said it regretted the error but added “the coin is an artistic representation of the author and text and not intended as a literal representation”.

According to the designer Mary Gregory, the text is intentionally scrawled and in places illegible "like the text of Joyce, which is sometimes unfathomable".

The coin is part of the European Silver Programme, an annual initiative where EU members issue legal tender coins under a common theme to celebrate European identity.