CNG 111, Lot: 1165. Estimate $750. Sold for $1200. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ISLE of MAN. James Stanley. Earl of Derby, 1702-1736. Proof AR Penny (28mm, 8.15 g, 4h). Second issue. Dated 1733. Eagle perched left on swaddled infant set on Cap of Maintenance / Triskelis; I D J in spaces around. SCBC 7406b. Proof, toned, minor cabinet friction.

Once an independent Viking kingdom, the Isle of Man was granted in perpetuity to Sir John Stanley, first Earl of Derby, by Henry IV in 1406 on the condition that two falcons be rendered to each of Henry’s successors at their coronations. Accepting these conditions, the Stanleys ruled as Kings of Man until 1651 and then as Lords of Man until 1736. The majority of Manx coins issued during this period bore the Stanley family crest and motto on the obverse, with the badge and motto of the island on the reverse. The family motto ‘Sans Changer’ was interpreted locally as ‘short of change’, a sarcastic reference to the scarcity of low denomination coinage, a notorious problem, which had left the island riddled with forgeries and resulted in the Tynwald Act of 1733 rendering all previously produced coinage illegal. The 1733 coinage was struck by Amos Topping and Samuel Dyall, successors of William Wood, and proved highly popular with the islanders, being described as the most beautiful ever circulated on the island.