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2 Crowns - Elizabeth II Discovery of Palladium
| Issuer | Isle of Man |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 2 Crowns |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Right-facing truncated effigy of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, rendered in the Ian Rank-Broadley portrait style. The queen's bust is draped, with fine detail in the tiara and hair. The legend 'ELIZABETH II ISLE OF MAN · 2004' arcs around the upper periphery, with the designer's initials 'IRB' below the truncation. The date appears as part of the surrounding legend. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ELIZABETH II ISLE OF MAN · 2004 IRB |
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| Additional information |
Palladium was isolated in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it after the asteroid Pallas, itself discovered just weeks earlier. Wollaston kept his extraction process secret for years, anonymously selling the metal through a London shop before eventually publishing his method in 1805. The Isle of Man has issued palladium coinage intermittently since the 1980s, among the earliest sovereign issuers to treat the metal as a numismatic medium rather than purely an industrial commodity.
At two troy ounces, this is a substantial palladium piece. The metal's chronic supply concentration — historically over 40% from a single Russian mining complex at Norilsk — has made palladium spot prices notoriously volatile compared to gold or silver.