Isle of Man ½ new penny 1975 - Ragwort

The coin's story

The Isle of Man adopted the decimal system in 1971, the same year as the United Kingdom, with its own series of coins whose reverses were designed by Christopher Ironside. On the ½ new penny, the smallest coin of the series, he depicted common ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris), called cushag in Manx, the island's national flower. This yellow-flowered plant, very common in the island's meadows, is nevertheless poisonous to livestock. The 1971 coins were struck without a mint mark. From 1972, those of the Pobjoy Mint bear the PM mark below the bust, and in 1975, the last year of the type, 705,610 pieces were struck. In 1976, the series was replaced by the “map of the island” series, in which the ½ penny shows a herring.