Isle of Man 50 pence 1979 - Viking Longship on the Map

The coin's story

In 1976 the Isle of Man adopted a new series of coins in which each reverse shows the map of the island with a local subject, engraved by Barry Stanton. On the 50 pence coin, it is a Viking longship, its sail billowing and shields lined up along the gunwale, that sails above the map, in memory of the Vikings who ruled the island. The obverse bears the bust of Elizabeth II after Arnold Machin, with the PM mark of the Pobjoy Mint, which has also appeared on the reverse since 1977. In 1979 the coins also received die letters and a small triskelion-shaped mark, to celebrate the millennium of Tynwald, the Manx parliament, founded according to tradition in 979. The coin, with seven curved sides, was struck by the Pobjoy Mint from 1976 to 1979, before the arrival of the 1980 series.