Isle of Man circulation 1 and 5 pound coins

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Isle of Man 5 pound coin brochure.

Back in 1981, the Isle of Man issued a circulation 5 pound coin.

It was a product of the Pobjoy Mint.

Well, they hoped it would circulate, but the Manx had other ideas.   


The images shown are courtesy of africancoins.

Does anybody know the thickness of the 5 pound coin?

And also of the "circulation" 1 pound coin of 1978?

Numista: Manx 5 pound coin, 1981.

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Isle of Man, 1 pound, 1978.

In 1978 the Pobjoy Mint produced the world's first modern pound coin for the Isle of Man, which it proudly called the round pound. The UK did not issue its own pound coins until 1983. The Manx government did intend that this coin should circulate. However, when I visited the Isle of Man in 1981, I did not find any in circulation. The Manx population did not like the coin, and to this day they prefer their pound notes, which are still produced/.

This first Manx pound coin was light and thin - not thick, like the current ones. It was confusingly close in size to the circulation five pence. Its diameter was 22.5mm, compared to 23.6 mm for the 5 pence coin at that time. The edge of the first Manx pound alternated between smooth and milled. It was made of virenium, an alloy which had a silvery colour but with a golden tint.

[malj1]

Does anybody know the thickness of the 5 pound coin - and also the "circulation" 1 pound coin of 1978?

The £5 is 2.65mm thick. The £1 is 1.43mm thick and can indeed be picked up with a magnet.

these two have been kept in plastic flips since that time, I now find they have gone quite hard and the coins have discoloured.

[malj1]

Another £5 from 1984

I have 1979, 1980 and 1981 pounds of the same design as 1978.

[<k>]

Virenium has an unusual sheen to it, which can look golden in a certain light. The coins are interesting, but the pound coin was too thin and insubstantial to be accepted in that role.

[malj1]

Yes with these stored in plastic flips it was hard to choose between the one pound and the five pence without reading the denomination on each.

[andyg]

These early pounds are almost identical in size to the sovereigns (although half the weight) - which I presumes explains why the size clashed with the 5p

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In the case of the UK round pound, the colour was meant to remind you of the old sovereign. Whether that was after-the-fact propaganda, or whether the memory of the sovereign did play a part in influencing the colour, I don't know.

[andyg]

In the case of the UK round pound, the colour was meant to remind you of the old sovereign. Whether that was after-the-fact propaganda, or whether the memory of the sovereign did play a part in influencing the colour, I don't know.

I suspect they didn't want everyone to realise how cheap the new round pounds were

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Yes, the Royal Mint was given a very tight budget, otherwise they'd have produced something around the size of the current 2 pound coin -  but that space was anyway already occupied by the old large 10 pence.

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Isle of Man, 1 pound, 1980.

Here is a Manx pound coin from ebay. It is dated 1980. It has a special mark on it from the Daily Mail Ideal Home Exhibition: D.M.I.H.E.

At one time the Pobjoy Mint was fond of these special marks. It even gave edge inscriptions to a couple of the IOM 50 pence coins in 1979 - the world's only heptagonal coins with an edge inscription.

I wonder just how many such marks exist in total on Manx coins. There are the batch marks too (AA, AB, etc.), which are another entity altogether. Maybe that is something our forum member Deeman could research. He enjoys variations. 

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An interesting image from numista.