Our Top 10 Coins from the Isle of Man
Are you a collector of Isle of Man coinage?
The island has released some truly beautiful coins in recent years, and as their mintage figures are typically much lower than UK coins, they are often highly sought-after by collectors…
The recent release of a second Christmas themed £2 coin has got everyone at Change Checker HQ talking, and so in this blog I’ve decided to take a look at some of our favourite Isle of Man coins!
1) 2019 Santa £2
The Isle of Man is renowned for their Christmas themed coins.
Traditionally the island release Christmas themed 50ps most years, however last year an incredibly popular Christmas £2 coin was released for the very first time, and this has now been followed by a second £2 this Christmas.
This year’s magical design features an enchanting portrait of Old St. Nick and bears the inscription ‘Nollick Ghennal’ which is Manx for ‘Merry Christmas’.
At the top of the coin, the distinctive Isle of Man Triskelion (three armoured legs) can be seen.
2) 2019 Peter Pan Set
This year, collectors were swept off their feet by this set of 6 commemorative Peter Pan 50p coins.
These are the very first coins to feature ‘the boy who never grew up’ and the set has been issued to commemorative the 90th anniversary of Peter Pan author, JM Barrie, gifting the rights to the story to Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The first coin in the series features an engraving of Peter Pan from David Wyatt’s illustration from the Oxford University Press edition and includes the iconic quote from the book, ‘Second to the right and straight on till morning’.
25,000 of each design entered circulation, but only on the Isle of Man so you’d be incredibly lucky if you managed to come across one in your UK change!
3) 2017 Triskelion £5 Coin
This £5 coin from 2017 features the Triskelion (three armoured legs) which is arguably the most recognised symbol of the island (featured on both the coat of arms and the flag).
The Isle of Man is the only country that circulates £5 coins, which means you could actually spend this coin in shops on the island!
But if you were lucky enough to have one I doubt you’d want to spend it, as it’s so unusual to have a circulation £5 coin in your change!
The coin is reasonably light when compared to our UK £5 coins. In fact, its size is 6mm smaller than the traditional UK commemorative £5 coins – so light enough to carry in your pocket!
4) 2003 Christmas 50p: The Snowman
2003 marked the very first time The Snowman featured on circulating coinage.
The Isle of Man released a limited-edition coin to mark the 25th anniversary of the release of the ‘The Snowman’ by Raymond Briggs.
Only 10,000 of these coins were ever minted, which makes it incredibly sought-after. In fact, this coin sells for well over face value on the secondary market, often fetching more than £200!
Since 2003, the Snowman has featured on a number of Isle of Man Christmas coins, and has even made two appearances on UK coins, which have been incredibly popular with collectors.
5) 1997 TT Races 50p
This highly sought-after 50p commemorates the 1997 TT races on the island – 90 years since the very first race in 1907.
The Isle of Man has become synonymous with the legendary TT races and each year since 1981 coins have been issued on the island to celebrate the occasion.
The 1997 coin celebrates eleven-time TT race winner Philip McCallen and is one of the most popular TT 50ps released by the Isle of Man.
Whilst there are many Isle of Man TT 50p coins in circulation, this isn’t the only denomination issued for the event…
6) 2018 TT £2 pair
£2 coins such as these have also been issued to celebrate the Isle of Man TT races.
These particular coins from 2018 mark 60 years since fan favourite ‘Mike the Bike’ first raced the International Isle of Man TT and 40 years since he returned to the event. They were officially licensed by the Isle of Man TT & Mike Haliwood foundation.
Mike Haliwood secured 14 Isle of Man victories during his racing career and his triumphant return to the TT has been described as ‘one of the most emotional moments of 20th century sport’.
Only 3,000 of each coin entered circulation on the Isle of Man, making them very hard to come by and practically impossible to find in your UK change.
7) 2011 Tosha Cat £2
In 2018, this coin caused a stir on Facebook coin groups and was even voted ‘Coin of the Year’ by the coin collecting community.
The £2 was actually issued in 2011 to commemorate the fourth Commonwealth Youth Games, held on the Isle of Man for the very first time.
However the coin seemed to be overlooked for the next 7 years until it piqued the interest of collectors on Facebook and prices on the secondary market started to skyrocket!
Sold prices for the coin vary and buyers must beware of fakes, however in some cases you’d be looking at parting with over £100 to get hold of one.
8) 2017 Round £1
In 2017, when the UK welcomed the brand new 12-sided £1 coin, the Isle of Man confirmed they would be keeping the familiar round pound coin – making them the only British Isles country to do so.
However, their round pound was to feature a complete redesign. It now featured a Falcon and a Raven which are symbolically associated with the Island and feature on the Coat of Arms.
The new round pound features Jody Clark’s sixth effigy of HM Queen Elizabeth II, which also features on coins from Crown dependencies and Commonwealth countries.
You might recognise the portrait from the £5 coin mentioned earlier as both look fairly unusual due to the inclusion of the Queen’s shoulders on the design.
9) 1978 Definitive £1
When it comes to pound coins, the Isle of Man were ahead of the game…
In fact, the world’s first base-metal circulating £1 was actually issued on the Isle of Man – five years ahead of the first £1 coin issued in mainland Britain.
It features the Three Legs of Man against a map of the island on the reverse and was issued as part of the Isle of Man £1 coin series.
These old style £1 coins were withdrawn from circulation in 1983, but would certainly make for an interesting addition to any collection.
10) 1990 ‘Penny Black’ Crown
In 1990, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the first postage stamp – the ‘Penny Black Stamp’ – the Isle of Man released this striking Crown coin.
The coin features an image of the stamp which was designed by Henry Corbould in 1840, showing the profile of the young Queen Victoria.
Struck in ‘pearl black’ Copper-Nickel, this highly innovative coin was awarded with three Coin of the Year Awards – Best Crown, Most Innovative Coinage and overall Coin of the Year.
A reissued version of this coin was struck in 2015 to celebrate the 175th anniversary.
Do you collect British Isles coinage and are you luck enough to have any of these beautiful Isle of Man coins in your change? Let us know in the comments below!
Celebrate the festive season with the BRAND NEW 2019 Isle of Man Christmas Santa £2 coin
The 2019 Isle of Man Christmas Santa £2 coin is a truly unique festive addition to any collection this Christmas season, or could even make the perfect Christmas gift or stocking filler for a friend or relative!
Click here to secure yours in Brilliant Uncirculated quality.
What news or information do you have on the Guernsey 2019 Christmas Pantomime set? I am told that there is a mintage figure of only 4000! That, if true, must make these some of the scarcest coins in the world…
Hi Simon, just 4,000 of each design have entered circulation on Guernsey, making them very scarce indeed! Mintage figures for British Isles coins are typically much lower than UK coins due to their much smaller population, but it is incredible when you consider that the UK’s rarest coin has a mintage of 210,000!
I have every 50p IOM Christmas coin from 1980 to 2014
except for the 2003 of course. I have the 2008(30th Ann Issue)
I would be interested to know what happened after 2014 Where
there any more (Chistmas) coins issued?
Unfortunately it seems that the Isle of Man stopped issuing Christmas 50ps after 2014, however we have seen Christmas £2 coins issued both this year and last year.
It always brings a smile to my face to see the different designs they have for various coins. My personal favorite with the 2003 Christmas 50p. It might have a little bit to do with that I love Christmas time.
I have one of the Isle of Man Vintage Rally 1998 £2 coins, how much are these normally worth?
Hi Freddie, that’s a great coin. The TT coins are really popular with collectors. Looking at sold prices on ebay, these tend to sell for around £3-£6 on the secondary market.
I did have one of the TT 50s and one of the round pound coins and a few others but they were stolen from me a couple of years back.
The TT coins are really great! Rotten luck that they were stolen James, really sorry to hear that.
Reached a brick wall with my UK coins now only ned Kew, Claim of Rights and EEC dual date so moved on to IOM coins. Are you a member of the Changecheckercommunity on Facebook, got several of the 1997 TT 50p coins to swap as you have had yours stolen if I can help and you are interested look me up on the Changecheckercommunity page on Facebook.
I collect iom coins and have the penny black 150@175 ,penny red and penny blue coins both 175 anniversary. among many other of their coins.
They are some really fascinating coins – great to have in your collection 🙂
Hello, I expected to see the 12 IOM Days of Christmas coins in the Top Ten!
Ah that would have been good! It’s so hard to pick a top ten as they have released so many wonderful coins.
Hi Rachel ,
I sent change checker an email the other day asking if you could update the website to show the territories and their coins . I know they are not legal tender in the uk but for a lot of collectors who have or are nearing the end of their collection on uk coins , branching out into the territories is the next step . Seeing this article reminded me how beautiful some of the coins just are .
They really are beautiful coins, you’re right Stewart. Whilst we’d love to include territory coins on the web app, it’s not something our systems can currently support due to the large amount of data that would be required to list all of the territory coins. It can also be very tricky to find the mintage figures for territory coins, which means we don’t have a full database of information like we do for UK coins. However we will certainly continue to provide as much info as we can about these coins on our blog.
Have become fascinated with Isle of Man coins recently, welcome Changechecker listing the top ten coins. Recently requested more information regards the popularity of these coins. So well done for such a positive response.
Know there is a lot of interest out there in these coins, would welcome possibility of organising local meets and possibility of including Isle of Man coins on the Changechecker website.