Isle of Man Angel appears on its first coin since the Manx move to Tower Mint and CIT

We reported back in March that Tower Mint, a London-based private mint owned by well-known effigy designer Raphael Maklouf, was to take over the reins of the Isle of Man’s coin programme. As most of this would be circulating currency and the hope that the bullion coin program would continue, we were pleased to see that commemorative coin duties would be handled by none other than the hugely respected Liechtenstein-based producer Coin Invest Trust (CIT). The first efforts  have now appeared and it seems that the Angel coin, one whose origins go back centuries, is far from dead.

A tweaked variant of one of the early Angel depictions is used, originally done by Raphael Maklouf, and then brought into high-relief using CIT’s outstanding SmartMinting technique. It’s a two-ounce coin with the extra ounce having gone to create a piedfort design, basically one with the same diameter but twice the thickness of a standard coin, in this case one of 38.6 mm. At several decades old now, the Angel is very well known in numismatic circles and we’d imagine something like this would be very well recieved.

With CIT being involved, the expectation is that quality will be first class. Struck in fine 0.999 silver, just 999 of the coin will be minted and each will come boxed and with a certificate of authenticity. They should begin shipping in October.

Also available, as you’d expect from CIT, is a half-gram minigold version. Struck to a proof standard and with a mintage of 15,000 coins, this one carries the same basic design, although obviously not in high-relief given the paucity of metal here. There are only renders at present, but CIT do have a knack of imbibing these little 11 mm diameter coins with an extraordinary amount of detail. Also available in October.