50 Pence - Elizabeth II Christmas, Platinum Proof

The Isle of Man Christmas 50 pence series, launched in 1976, was one of the earliest annual commemorative coin programs from the island and helped establish its reputation as an aggressive issuer of collector-oriented coinage under the Pobjoy Mint contract. The 1982 platinum proof belongs to a tier that was produced in extremely limited numbers — platinum strikes in this series routinely had mintages in the low dozens, sometimes fewer than twenty-five pieces.

Pobjoy's relationship with the Isle of Man Treasury produced some of the most unconventional British Commonwealth issues of the era, platinum proofs among them, at a time when virtually no other small territory was striking in the metal at all.