Christmas is a fantastic and truly magical time of the year…. to make lots of extra lolly as many people start being far more sentimental and also spend their money with less hesitation! Unsurprisingly, most businesses are well aware of this. That is also why mainstream cinema release ‘blockbuster’ movies at two specific times of the year in order to cash in – 1) the summertime (when kids are off skool and can milk ma and pa more effectively for spends) and 2) Christmas (for the aforementioned reasons).
{ God I have a cynical view of the world and I probably need to seek professional help….. }
Anyway, back to the task/punch-up at hand.
Mints (not like Polo or Trebor; mints like Royal Mint, Tower Mint etc. you understand) are no exception to this basic rule of trading. Therefore, it was a sly, informed and highly lucrative move to release special Christmas coins. And this began (as far as I am aware – but you are more than welcome to correct me if I am wrong) in 1980 with the first IOM crimbo coin, ‘Stagecoach’.
And boy, since that time there have been lorry-loads of Christmas coins. Seriously. But the main offenders and the most tasteful ones (and boy have there been some tacky ones too!) hail from Gibraltar and the Isle of Man. And those, my good people, are the two protagonists in our rumble tonight.
Coins from either of these territories have several things in common. They feature very nice pictures (on the whole…), they have mysteriously unknown mintages (99% of the time) and cost an absolute fortune to collect. Take my word; I speak from painful and empty-pocketed experience :/ So which of these would be the best collection in itself? Isle of Man or Gibraltar? Well, up to now they are neck and neck…. unless one other facet is considered.
In 2005, the Isle of Man started a small festive range within its festive range; namely, ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. A lot of collectors would say these were the very nicest IOM Christmas coins of all. And it is not difficult to see why. The designs are very, very nice and the artwork is top notch. The only disappointment to it all is that in 2010 they released their sixth (and seemingly) final coin without completing the whole traditional song. In essence, they reduced it all to ‘The Six Days of Christmas’!
However, these half a dozen coins are still enough to swing things. It would have been far nicer if they had released all twelve but it still means that they have won tonight’s match.
A close fight, right to the very end!
© Article and images (except where stated) copyright Mik Smith 2022
