Isle of Man 2 new pence 1975 - Pair of falcons

The coin's story

The Isle of Man, a British Crown Dependency, changed to the decimal system in 1971, the same year as the United Kingdom, with its own series of coins. The reverses of this first series were designed by Christopher Ironside, the artist who also created the reverses of the British decimal coins. On the 2 new pence he depicted two peregrine falcons, recalling a very old tribute. In 1406 King Henry IV granted the island to Sir John Stanley, on condition that he and his successors present two peregrine falcons to every English sovereign at their coronation. The tradition continued: in 1953 the island presented two silver falcons to Elizabeth II for her coronation. The 1971 coins were struck by the Royal Mint, from 1972 to 1975 they bear the PM mark of the Pobjoy Mint. 1975, the last year of the type, is by far the most struck, with 725,000 pieces. In 1976 the island adopted new designs for all its coins.