In 1980 when the Queen Mother turned 80, a number of countries issued special commemorative crowns to honour the event. The Isle of Man was such a place. This handsome crown is struck in Uncirculated cupro-nickel. You have a facing portrait of the Queen Mother on one side and on the other you have a profile portrait of her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. These crowns are now 39 years old and in Uncirculated condition.
These very interesting tokens, although dated 1830, depict the portrait of King George III of Great Britain instead of the monarch at that time, King George IV. They were issued by both John Caine and two members of his family, John McTurk and a Mr. Carter originating from Castletown, so they became known as ‘McTurk’, ‘Caine’ and ‘Carter’ tokens. They were issued, as with most token coinage, during a period of chaos when there was a desperate shortage of small copper change available, as was the case on the island at the time with no legal currency having been struck since the 1813 issue. They grade About Very Fine but limited availability.
In 1974 the Isle of Man issued a One Crown, crownsized coin for the Centenary of Churchill 1874-1974. It has H. M. the Queen on the obverse. It is a much better designed and struck than our own Royal Mint Churchill crown. But there was a whole heck of lot less Isle of Man Churchill crowns struck than Royal Mint crowns. They were struck in cupro-nickel by our own Pobjoy Mint and are denominated as ‘One Crown’. It is a coin that we have not had for quite a long time and even now we have only 75 coins in stock. Get while you can, especially if you are a Churchill collector.