Piedforts — coins struck at double the standard planchet thickness — have no circulation function whatsoever; they exist purely as collector artifacts, a tradition revived by the Royal Mint in 1982 after a gap of several centuries and quickly adopted by dependent territories including the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man's Treasury has long used commemorative issues as a revenue stream, licensing designs aggressively through the 1980s and 1990s under Pobjoy Mint contracts.
The House of Windsor designation dates to 1917, when George V renamed the royal house by proclamation to shed its German dynastic name — Saxe-Coburg and Gotha — during wartime anti-German sentiment.
Piedforts — coins struck at double the standard planchet thickness — have no circulation function whatsoever; they exist purely as collector artifacts, a tradition revived by the Royal Mint in 1982 after a gap of several centuries and quickly adopted by dependent territories including the Isle of Man. The Isle of Man's Treasury has long used commemorative issues as a revenue stream, licensing designs aggressively through the 1980s and 1990s under Pobjoy Mint contracts.
The House of Windsor designation dates to 1917, when George V renamed the royal house by proclamation to shed its German dynastic name — Saxe-Coburg and Gotha — during wartime anti-German sentiment.