Index: maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/interpolation/RegexBasedModelInterpolator.java
===================================================================
--- maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/interpolation/RegexBasedModelInterpolator.java	(revision 651675)
+++ maven-project/src/main/java/org/apache/maven/project/interpolation/RegexBasedModelInterpolator.java	(working copy)
@@ -167,9 +167,15 @@
             }
 
             // if the expression refers to itself, skip it.
-            if ( String.valueOf( value ).indexOf( wholeExpr ) > -1 )
+            if (String.valueOf(value).indexOf(wholeExpr) > -1)
             {
-                throw new ModelInterpolationException( wholeExpr, "Expression value '" + value + "' references itself in '" + model.getId() + "'." );
+                if (((wholeExpr.startsWith("${pom.") || wholeExpr.startsWith("${project."))))
+                {
+                    throw new ModelInterpolationException(wholeExpr, "Expression value '" + value + "' references itself in '" + model.getId() + "'.");
+                } else
+                {
+                    return result;
+                }
             }
 
             if ( value != null )