The Manx Noble are

platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

bullion coin A bullion coin (also known as a specie) is a coin struck from highly refined precious metal (bullion) and kept as a store of value or an investment rather than used in day-to-day commerce, or collectable, with numismatic value beyond that of its ...

s distributed by the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

and minted by private companies. While platinum coins have been minted since the early 1800s, the Noble is the first platinum coin created for investors. The coins are not minted every year, but have an erratic schedule. Nobles are

legal tender Legal tender is a form of money that Standard of deferred payment, courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment in court for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything ...

but they do not have a fixed face value; instead, like the

Krugerrand The Krugerrand (; ) is a South African coin, first minted on 3 July 1967 to help market South African gold and produced by Rand Refinery and the South African Mint. The name is a compound of '' Paul Kruger'', the former President of the South ...

or Mexico's Libertad, they are legal tender to the value of their precious metal content.

Specifications

The platinum coins contains 99.5% platinum (.995

fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Fran Fine, the title character of ''The Nanny'' * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (p ...

). The gold coins contains 99.99% gold (.9999 fine) and silver coins contains 99.9% silver (.999 fine).

Design

Obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

: It shows a portrait of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

with the text ''Isle of Man'' and ''Elizabeth II'' in capitals. There have been four different portraits of Queen Elizabeth used on the coins. The 1984 coin showed the second coin portrait, done when the Queen was in her early 40s. The third coin portrait, of the Queen in her 50s, was used between 1985 and 1997. The fourth portrait, of the 70-year old Queen, was used between 1998 and 2014. Since 2015, the fifth coin portrait has been used. Reverse: shows a

viking ship Viking ships were marine vessels of unique structure, used in Scandinavia throughout the Middle Ages. The boat-types were quite varied, depending on what the ship was intended for, but they were generally characterized as being slender and flexi ...

and four birds with the denomination. In small lettering beneath the ship, metal content, coin size and

fineness The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hard ...

are given. The design is framed by an elaborate Viking knit motif border with the island's coat of arms, the

triskele A triskelion or triskeles is an ancient motif consisting either of a triple spiral exhibiting rotational symmetry or of other patterns in triplicate that emanate from a common center. The spiral design can be based on interlocking Archimedean s ...

, appearing at the top, above the ship's flag.

History

The first platinum coins regularly minted were Russian platinum rubles from 1828 to 1845. Only occasional

commemorative coin A commemorative coin is a coin issued to commemorate some particular event or issue with a distinct design with reference to the occasion on which they were issued. Some coins of this category serve as collector's items only, while most commemora ...

s were minted till the 1970s when Isle of Man started regularly issuing commemorative platinum coins. Isle of Man has used three private mints to make their coins, the English Pobjoy Mint from 1983 until 2016, Liechtenstein's Coin Investment Trust (CIT) in 2017, and the 2018 version was minted by the English Tower Mint. Several one-off coins were minted. What is claimed to be the world's first holographic coin is a 1996 platinum Noble whose viking ship's sail is made from a patterned hologram. A one-quarter ounce bimetallic coin, ring made of gold with the center platinum, was minted in 1995. A one-ounce bimetallic coin, ring of silver with a center of gold, was produced in 2009. A one-ounce

palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...

coin was issued in 2012. There were 26, five-ounce platinum coins minted in 1986 and another 15 coins in 1988. The same amount of ten-ounce platinum coins were also released in 1986 and 1988. The 2017 and 2018 silver coins came in both proof and reverse proof versions. The following table shows mintages of proof coins unless noted with a (b). NR - Mintage numbers not released
(b) - Brilliant uncirculated finish. Not a proof coin

References

{{Reflist Birds on coins Ships on coins Bullion coins of the Isle of Man Gold bullion coins Silver bullion coins Platinum bullion coins Palladium bullion coins

Specifications

Design

History

See also

References