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1 Penny - George III
| Issuer | Isle of Man |
|---|---|
| Year | 1786 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 15.5 g |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of King George III facing right, rendered in high relief with finely detailed hair curls and laurel wreath. The truncation of the neck is adorned with foliate drapery. The encircling legend reads GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA in Latin, divided by the portrait, with the date 1786 positioned prominently in the lower exergual area. A decorative milled border frames the entire design. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA. 1786 |
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| Additional information |
The Isle of Man was not under direct British Treasury control in the eighteenth century, allowing its own coinage to persist independently. This 1786 issue was struck under the authority of the Duke of Atholl, whose family had purchased the lordship of the island from the Stanleys in 1736. The Atholl pennies were notoriously overweight relative to contemporary British regal copper, a deliberate policy to discourage melting and exportation — a problem that had plagued earlier Manx issues badly enough to create chronic small-change shortages throughout the 1760s.
The contract for this striking almost certainly went to Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint rivals, as Boulton did not win Manx contracts until the 1798 recoinage that eventually superseded these pieces entirely.