50 Pounds Sterling 1983, Isle of Man
| in Banknotes Book | Number: IM71 |
| Years of issue: | 1983 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Treasurer of the Isle of Man: Mr. W. Dawson |
| Serie: | 1983 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1983 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 147 x 78 |
| Printer: | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden |
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Description
Watermark:
Triskelion.
Avers:
HM The Queen Elizabeth II. The photograph that was used of the Queen was taken in April 1975 by the late Reading-based photographer Peter Grugeon and later released for official use during the Silver Jubilee in 1977. It is one of the more popular images of The Queen. (Peter Symes).
Her Majesty is depicted wearing Grand Duchess Vladimir's tiara, Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee necklace, the Royal Family Orders of King George VI and George V and Queen Alexandra's Wedding Earrings.
The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara.
No tiara is complete without a fascinating backstory, and this one's even got a daring escape. Made by Bolin, it glittered at the Russian royal court on the head of Grand Duchess Vladimir until the revolution, when it was left behind as the family fled. A British agent and friend smuggled it out of Russia to rejoin the exiled Grand Duchess and her collection. After her death, the tiara was bought from her daughter by Queen Mary. It's worn often today by the Queen with pearl or emerald drops, or occasionally with no drops. The pearl drop option has been the most popular with the Queen in recent years, probably owing to her love of white gowns in the evening and accompanying white jewels.
To mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, a committee of ladies was formed to raise money for a commemorative statue of Victoria’s late husband Prince Albert. The committee’s fundraising was quite successful, and they ended up raising far more than was required for the statue. An agreement was formed with the Queen that the excess should go to the St. Katherine’s Fund for Nurses. At the same time, some members of the committee decided that a portion of the funds should be used to purchase a necklace for the Queen - and this was also approved by Her Majesty.
The trouble was, the committee did not agree on the necklace. Some felt it would be wrong to spend the funds which had been previously devoted to charity on something else. Much discussion and debate ensued, as is described in depth in Hugh Roberts’ book The Queen’s Diamonds. (My favorite tidbit: Queen Victoria, angry that she wouldn’t get her promised necklace, shot down the prospect of a diamond badge commemorating the nursing fund by declaring she would “at once exchange it for another jewel”.
In the end, a compromise was reached and this necklace, made for £5000 (far less than the necklace originally proposed) from gold, diamonds, and pearls by Carrington & Co. was presented to Queen Victoria in 1888. It features a central quatrefoil diamond motif with a large pearl in the middle, topped by a crown and underlined with a drop pearl. The next four links in either direction are graduated trefoil motifs; the central piece and the six largest trefoils can also be worn as brooches.
She is also wearing Queen Alexandra’s Cluster Earrings. The wedding gift from the future King Edward VII to his bride, Alexandra of Denmark. Also known as Queen Alexandra's Cluster Earrings, these two button earrings have large pearls surrounded by diamonds - 10 larger stones each plus smaller filler stones to create a full diamond ring. Like the brooch, these passed to the Queen via Queen Mary. They're now worn primarily at evening functions.
Royal Family Orders.
King George IV started a practice in the British royal family which continues today: the awarding of family orders. These are diamond-set portraits of the monarch suspended from a silk bow (the color varying by reign), and they are today given to female royal family members of the sovereign's choosing as a personal gift.
Queen Elizabeth was first given her grandfather George V's order, set on pale blue silk.
Followed by her father George VI's, on pink silk, and she wears them both today. (A royal lady can wear all the family orders she has at once.) The orders are positioned on the left shoulder. They are worn for the most formal events, and can usually be seen on the Queen when she's at a tiara event.
In most renditions of this portrait, the Royal Family Order of King George VI is apparent below the left-hand shoulder of Her Majesty, while the uppermost portion of the Royal Family Order of King George V is apparent in only some renditions of the portrait. (Her majesty's Jewel Vault)
In this portrait, only a part of the Order of the Family of King George VI is visible, mostly truncated by rosette with a face value.
Centered, is an emblem of Isle of Man - Triskelion.
A triskelion or triskele (which invariably has rotational symmetry) is a motif consisting of three interlocked spirals, three bent human legs, or three bent/curved lines extending from the center of the symbol. Both words are from Greek "τρισκέλιον" (triskelion) or "τρισκελής" (triskeles), "three-legged", from prefix "τρι-" (tri-), "three times" + "σκέλος" (skelos), "leg".
Although it appears in many places and periods including 3200 BCE Newgrange, it is especially characteristic of the Celtic art of the La Tène culture of the European Iron Age.
A triskelion is the symbol of Sicily, where it is called trinacria, as well as of the Isle of Man, Brittany, and the town of Füssen in Germany.
It is unknown how the Manx triskelion was originally adopted, and several theories have been put forward its origin. In 1607, English historian William Camden stated that it was derived from the Sicilian triskelion. In 1885 John Newton considered the Manx triskelion originated in the mid XIII century, when the Pope offered the throne of Sicily to Edmund, son of King Henry III of England. Newton noted that the wife of King Alexander III of Scotland was Henry's daughter, and that Alexander visited the English court in 1255. Later in 1266, Norway ceded the Isle of Man to the Kingdom of Scotland, and Newton considered it likely that Alexander utilized the triskelion for the arms of his new possession. It has also been suggested that the ancestry of the Manx triskelion can be traced to the triquetra in a coin of Olaf Cuaran, a X-century Norse-Gaelic warlord who was king of Northumbria and king of Dublin. Lending credibility to this theory is the current belief that the mediaeval Manx dynasty was related to that of Olaf Cuaran. However, the gap between the X century and late 13th century, when the Manx triskelion is first recorded, is wide indeed, and it has been noted that several kings from this period are known to have borne a galley as their emblem, and not a triskelion.
Early examples of the symbol are present in the Royal Arms ascribed to the King of Mann in several late XIII century armorials. The Manx triskelion also appears on the Manx Sword of State, which is popularly said to date to the time of King Olaf the Black (d. 1237), although recent analysis has shown it more likely dates to about the XV century. Another example can be seen on a XIV-century stone cross in the churchyard of Maughold. Another is example is a late XIV-century seal of Sir William le Scrope, Lord of Mann, in which the Manx triskelion is depicted in plate armour, rather than mail. Early representations of the Manx triskelion show the legs running clockwise, and later representations show the legs running in both directions.
The motto is "quocunque jeceris stabit", which is Latin and means: "whichever way you throw, it will stand". The motto dates to the 17th century, where it is first recorded as being present on Manx coinage dating to the year 1668. It is possible that the motto became associated to the Manx triskelion through these coins.
A little more info about Triskelion:
So long as the Kings of Man could write "Rex Manniae et Insularem" (Kingdom of Man and the Isles) after their names the arms were the ship with furled sail; but when the Scots, under their King Alexander, took possession of the Western Islands and also of Man, the three legs were substituted.
"With the toe of one leg they spurn at Ireland,
with the spur of another they kick at Scotland, and
with the third leg they kneel to England."
The legs are all cased in armour, denoting self-defence; the spurs denote speed; while in whatever position they are placed, one of them falls into the attitude of supplication.
The meaning of the symbol is, that if England should have thought of oppressing the island, Ireland and Scotland would have been asked for help; and if either of these two, or both of them combined, should assail the Manx nation, England would be called upon to help and defend them.
The motto is an iambic dimeter - "Quocunque Jeceris Stabit" ("Whichever way you may throw it, it will stand"). Whether this be taken in English or Latin, it very ingeniously agrees, both in sense and style, with the attitude of the legs. The position of the legs cannot be changed in the plain so as to alter their attitude to the three surrounding countries of England, Scotland, and Ireland; and no transposition of the words of the Latin motto will change its sense and meaning.
The occult moral of this emblem presents the instructive parable of "A brave man struggling with fate." The character is constituted by the conjunction of humility, energy, and fortitude. His attitude is that of supplication; but, at the same time, that of activity. He is only on one knee. With one limb he implores assistance; with the other two he serves himself. With the sense of dependence on strength superior to his own, he combines the most strenuous exertion of his own energies; to the modesty of supplication he conjoins the discretion of armour and the activity of the spurs. Whatever lot Providence may apportion to such a man, whatever it will cost him, he will stand.
The insignia of the Island of Sicily, in the Mediterranean, is also three legs, similarly joined together at the thighs, but the legs are bare and naked.
The origin of the very quaint device of the Manx three legs goes back to very old times—times when the Manx people believe that the island was only inhabited by fairies, and everything was carried on in quite a fairylike and supernatural manner, without any aid from mortal men.
Tradition says that the island was enchanted and ruled by a fairy enchanter, who was very jealous at the bare idea of mortals coming to its shores, and so to prevent anyof the sea-rovers from seeing the land when passing in their ships, he caused a blue mist or fog to envelop and hang over it, and thus kept the island out of the sight of all mariners who frequented those seas.
This enchanter had also the power of making one little fairy-man appear like a whole army of big men, and of so frightening away the crews of any vessels that might penetrate the mist and attempt to invade his domains.
One day, however, it so happened that some fishermen were driven by stress of weather through the mist, and, much to their surprise, discovered land where they least expected to find it; but when they did see it, it was so enshrouded in vapour and mist they could hardly discern anything distinctly. They Succeeded, after great difficulty, in getting their small vessel safely on to the beach and landing.
Once on shore, they prepared to make a fire to warm themselves and cook some food. Amid their preparations, they were frightened and astonished on hearing fearful noises, but could not distinguish whence they proceeded. Directly one of the men struck a light with his tinder-box, the fog began to break, and as the fire burned up, so did the clouds and mist commence to roll along and ascend up the sides of what they could now perceive was a mountain. The rolling mist was followed by a curious object that looked like three legs of men, joined together at the thighs, the knees and feet sticking out like the spokes of a wheel. This wonderful object, slowly revolving, followed after the cloud as it rolled up the mountainside, and disappearing, was never seen again from that time to this.
The light of the fire evidently broke the spell of the enchanter’s power, and though the island is often remarked to have a belt of fog and mist hanging about its shores, neither mist nor fog has ever returned so dense again.
An Irishwoman, on first beholding the device of the three legs on the paddle-box of one of the Isle of Man Packet Company’s steamers, on the occasion of her arrival in Liverpool, and being told what they were, exclaimed: "It must be a moighty quare counthry that his ligs for its arums."(www.isle-of-man.com)
Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners. In words centered.
Revers:
Many thanks to Mrs. Yvonne Cresswell, curator of social history at Manx National Heritage for her help with the photo of the picture from the reverse of the banknote!
Yvonne sent me this photo, saying that she took it in a hurry, and said, that she will send a better photo in December 2020.
The engraving is based on a watercolour "View of Douglas", signed "W. Kinnebrook" (William Kinnebrook), and dated 1841 (Size: 22 x 33 cm.) (Accession no.: 1954-5802) in the Manx National Art Collection.
An Engraving "View of Douglas", with inscription William Home Lizars (1788 - 30 March 1859) - scottish painter and engraver)), dated - 1841 (reference number: P.156 (1845. Appears n Train’s History)) in Manx National Heritage.
Also, many thanks to Sarah L. Christian, Assistant Library and Archive at the Manx National Heritage, for engraving the reverse of the banknote. This is not the first time Sarah has helped me.
Here is what she wrote to me in the supplement:
"I must admit I did laugh when I realised what I was actually looking at on this scene - the lady is spreading her laundry on the grass to dry - just next to the cows - I admire her optimism!".
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View of Douglas from the same point, today.
Denominations in numerals are in lower corners. In words at the top.
Comments:
The De La Rue engraving, as well as reflecting the differences mentioned in Portrait 17a, also represents The Queen with a more cheerful aspect, achieving this through slight differences around Her eyes and lips.
Bradbury Wilkinson's version of this portrait has less shading on The Queen's neck just above Her necklace, than is apparent on the De La Rue engravings (Portrait 17b). There are other subtle variations to the second version, noticeably in the patterns on Her Majesty's dress.
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