1/4 Angel - Elizabeth II 3rd portrait

The Angel series, introduced by the Isle of Man in 1984, was among the earliest bullion coinage programs designed explicitly to compete with the Krugerrand and Maple Leaf markets. The bimetallic format used here — gold centre seated within a platinum ring — was an unusual technical exercise for the mid-1990s, when bimetallic circulation coinage was still a novelty and applying the method to a precious-metal bullion piece was genuinely uncommon. Pobjoy Mint, which struck Isle of Man issues during this period, had to develop specialized tooling to cold-bond the two metals without compromising the purity specifications of either component.