Brief Isle of Man History

The Isle of Man is a small island with a population of around 85,000 in the Irish Sea equidistant from Ireland, Scotland and England. In fact it is just visible from Blackpool's North Shore at very low tides. It is famous amongst motorcyclists for its historic Manx TT races each year, with many enthusiasts gathered to ride around the island and its famous street-circuit course. The island has one of the world's oldest parliaments called Tynwald, which enacts its own laws, although this often amounts to ratifying the main British laws as it is a British Crown dependency. It was under Norse influence for many centuries, and has also much Gaelic influence in its culture.

Manx Gold Coins

Although the Isle of Man has issued its own coins from 1700 to about 1864, after this it ceased to do so until decimalisation in 1970. Since then its coins have been minted by the ubiquitous Pobjoy Mint. In addition to producing real coins for circulation, Pobjoy's successful marketing manages to flood the market with a confusingly large range of denominations and designs in almost every metal imaginable, and manage to do so at very high issue prices. This includes a wide range of gold coins from a gold penny to a gold 25 angel containing 25 ounces of gold, some of these "coins" are only in nine carat gold. At a quick count, we got to 37 different denominations, but we may well have missed a few dozen, it's entirely possible that at least a few more denominations were invented while we were counting! Nevertheless, it is not for us to criticise or choose, we only make a market in them, and there are some of the Manx gold coins which are fairly legitimate such as the sovereigns and half sovereigns, which conform closely to the traditional standards of their mainland United Kingdom equivalents.

Obverse

The obverse was designed by artist, Arnold Machin. It shows the second coinage portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. It was used on UK coins from 1968 - 1984.

The text reads:

ISLE OF MAN SOVEREIGN

ELIZABETH II

Reverse

The reverse design is credited to The Pobjoy Mint Designers. It shows a Norse warrior on horseback. The design is similar in appearance to the St George and Dragon reverse found on British sovereigns.

Specification

Metal	Gold
Gold Weight Troy Ounces	2.002
Fineness / Carat	0.917 / 22
Date	1974
Obverse Designer	Arnold Machin
Reverse Designer	Pobjoy Mint Engravers
Issuing Monarch	Elizabeth II (1952-2022)
Mint / Brand	Pobjoy Mint
Country	Isle of Man

2024 Christmas Opening Hours and Despatch Dates

General

Tuesday 24th December 2024 - Phone lines 9:30 - 14:00 (Last showroom appointment 12:00pm - Collections Only).
Wednesday 25th December 2024 - Wednesday 1st January 2025 - Closed (Urgent enquiries will still be answered during this time).
Thursday 2nd January 2025 - Normal Business Hours.
All orders placed between Friday 20th December 2024 and Wednesday 1st January 2025 will be despatched between 2nd - 5th January 2025.

Hatton Garden

Closed 20th December 2024 - 5th January 2025 inclusive.

Christmas Despatch 2024

Last despatch date for UKSTANDARD orders in time for Christmas – Monday 16th December.
Last despatch date for UKSPECIAL orders over £5,000 in time for Christmas – Thursday 19th December.
Last despatch date for UKSPECIAL orders below £5,000 in time for Christmas & UKSTANDARDS orders not in time for Christmas – Friday 20th December.

Internationals

Last despatch date for international orders in time for Christmas – Monday 2nd December.
Last despatch date for all internationals – Monday 16th December.

Distance Buy-Ins

Distance Buy Ins (DBI) – Last despatch date for DBI packaging – Packaging shipped out Monday 16th to arrive with customer Tuesday 17th to be collected by DPD Wednesday 18th to arrive with us Thursday 19th.

New Year

First despatch date in the New Year – Thursday 2nd January 2025.

Delivery Information

We aim to dispatch orders within 48 hours of receiving cleared funds. Our standard delivery methods are as follows.

Orders over £60 - Fully Insured Delivery.

Within the UK and BFPO - Next day fully insured and tracked. Delivery starts from £6.

Orders under £60

Within the UK and BFPO - Royal Mail 2nd Class. Your order will normally arrive within 2-3 working days. Delivery starts from £3.50.

If you wish to have your order sent by an alternative method (e.g., Saturday Guaranteed) please contact +441253343081 for more information. Please note, we will not dispatch high value orders over a bank holiday weekend.

For international delivery, please check with your local customs office for more information on custom duty and taxes.

Full delivery information can be found by clicking here.

Postal Insurance

We offer fully insured delivery on all special delivery options. We do need to pass on the cost of this insurance as it soon adds up shipping high value gold and silver products.

Orders under £1500 there is no additional fee.
Orders over £1500 we charge a fee in order to cover the increasing costs of insurance. For every £1500 we apply a £1 fee.

If you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to call the showroom on +441253343081 and one of our team can discuss your purchase.

Terms of Sale - Key Points

You can find more information on payment and identification requirements.

Bullion coins are provided as is and on occasion may have some minor scratches or edge knocks. These are not regarded as faulty or damaged goods as their precious metal content and value as a bullion coin is not affected. Any coin sold for a value less than a 180% intrinsic is considered a bullion coin.

Gold investment products are VAT free. Silver investment products are inclusive of VAT at the current rate unless otherwise stated.

All investment products are based on the live precious metal price. Prices will be fixed once the item has been added to the basket and recalculates just before checking out.

If your product is not a graded coin and is considered a bullion item, it should be noted that these are bought and sold on low premiums over their precious metal content and not solely for aesthetic purposes; therefore, some products may have edge knocks and/or marks. These edge knocks and marks do not alter the specifications of the coins.

Please note that all investment products are exempt from the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 and therefore customers do not have the right to cancel their order once the order has been accepted. If customers no longer wish to go ahead with their investment purchase, there is an option to sell the products back to Chard (1964) Ltd instead. View our current buy back prices.

View our full Terms & Conditions.

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1974 Isle of Man Gold Proof Sovereign 4 Coin Set