Isle of Man

Mackay 51; Pridmore 15; SCBC 7411; KM 7

AE/copper penny; Issued by James Murray, second Duke of Atholl (1736-1764), and struck at an unidentified mint in England. 11.13 g., 29.37 mm.max.

Obv: Entwined monogram AD (Atholl Dux) surmounted by a ducal coronet, 1758 below

Rev: QUOCUNQUE • IECERIS • STABIT, triskeles in center

Upon the death of James, tenth Earl of Derby in 1736, sovereignty of the Isle of Man passed into the hands of James Murray, second Duke of Atholl, who was the maternal grandson of James Stanley, seventh Earl of Derby (executed in 1651 as a Royalist during the English Civil War). This coinage, comprised of £250 in pennies (60,000 coins) and £150 pounds in half pennies (36.000 coins), was issued to address a currency shortage on the island. Due to the softness of the copper used, the coins tended to wear rapidly. His daughter, Charlotte Murray, Duchess of Atholl, and her husband, John Murray, third Duke of Atholl, sold their manorial rights in the Isle of Man to the Crown in 1765, but the coinage remained legal tender until 1786.