5 Pounds Sterling 1987, Isle of Man
| in Banknotes Book | Number: IM43b |
| Years of issue: | 1987 |
| Edition: | Prefix D (Sans Serif) approx. 900000 |
| Signatures: | Treasurer of the Isle of Man: Mr. W. Dawson |
| Serie: | 1972 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1979 (1987) |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 147 x 78 |
| Printer: | Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited, New Malden |
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Description
Watermark:
It must be Triskelion.
On the banknote printing error - a watermark stamped fuzzy, visible is only one leg of Triskelion plus something, looks like additional foot.
Avers:
HM The Queen Elizabeth II.
The portraits in this group are official portraits, taken by Anthony Buckley, circa 1966. The sitting that produced the photographs on which these engravings are based also produced a number of similar portraits that were used on postage stamps.
In this portrait The Queen is wearing Queen Victoria's Collet Necklace and Earrings. (While this necklace is depicted in Portrait 10, the matching earrings are not used for that portrait.)
The Coronation Necklace and Earrings are an important set in the Queen's collection not just because of overall diamond weight but, because of historical significance.
The necklace was created for Queen Victoria in 1858 and has been worn by queens for every coronation after Queen Victoria's death, hence the name. It currently has 26 stones: 25 in the necklace itself, plus the 22.48 carat Lahore Diamond as a pendant. "From her Majesty's Jewel vault"
The drops of the earrings are stones taken from the Timur Ruby Necklace, owned by The Queen.
Each old-cut diamond cluster surmount suspending a foliate diamond link and pear-shaped diamond cluster drop, mounted in silver and gold.
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, the Royal Family Order of King George V has been truncated.
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)
Behind denomination in words is the map of Isle of Man.
Denominations in numerals are in top left and lower right corners. In words centered.
Revers:
The engraving on banknote is made after this Antique copper line engraved print of Castle Rushin, Isle of Man, plate 1. Made by Richard Bernard Godfrey. Published by Samuel Hooper in London, Printed by C. Clarke, for Volume 4 by Francis Grose (c.1731 . .1791), published at 6 of February 1775 (Manx illustrations: The Cathedral Church of St. Germains, in Peele [Peel] Castle; Cathedral Church floor plan; St Patrick's Church and Armoury in Peele Castle; Peele Castle; Castle Rushin [Rushen] plate 1; Castle Rushen plate 2; Rushen Abbey at Ballasalley. [Ballasalla] All drawn in 1774.). This view, which shows the North-East aspect of the castle, taken at low water.
This engraving by Richard Godfrey was reproduced in different publications at different times in the late XVIII century with different figures in the foreground (all missing from the banknote).
Castle Rushen (Manx: Cashtal Rosien) is a medieval castle located in the Isle of Man's historic capital, Castletown, in the south of the island. It towers over the Market Square to the south-east and the harbour to the north-east. The castle is amongst the best examples of medieval castles on the British Isles, and is still in use as a court house, museum and educational center.
This castle is considered as the chief fortress in the island. According to the Manks tradition, it was built about the year 960, by Guttred, grandson to a King of Denmark, and the 2d of a succession of 12 kings, by them called Orrys. This building, which is even now remarkably solid, is said by Challoner, Sacheverell, and other writers, to be reckoned by travellers a striking resemblance of the castle of Elsinore in Denmark. Guttred, the founder, lies buried in its walls, but the exact spot where, has not been handed down. As this fortress has at different times suffered several sieges, the repairs of the damages sustained must have somewhat altered its interior parts, though in all probability the keep of the castle itself is still in its original form.
The Manksmen, according to Waldron, had a strange tradition concerning this castle, which, as it will probably divert the reader, is here transcribed in his own words: "Just at the entrance of the castle is a great stone chair for the governor, and two lesser for the deempsters: here they try all causes, except ecclesiastical, which are entirely under the decision of the bishop. When you are past this little court, you enter into a long winding passage between two high walls, not much unlike what is described of Rosamond's Labyrinth at Woodstock: in case of an attack, 10,000 men might be destroyed by a very few in attempting to enter.
The extremity of it brings you to a room where the keys sit. They are 24 in number; they call them the parliament; but, in my opinion, they more resemble our juries in England, because the business of their meeting is to adjust differences between the common people, and are locked in till they have given in their verdict. They may be said in this sense, indeed, to be supreme judges, because from them there is no appeal but to the lord himself.
....Our author here quotes from Waldron some of the traditional tales concerning this castle, but as they have already been printed by the Manx Society in their XIth Volume, it is unnecessary to repeat them here.
"The castle, as also the two walls which encompass it, and are broad enough for three persons to walk abreast on, are all of freestone, which is the only building in the island of that sort. Within the walls is a small tower adjoining to the castle, where formerly state-prisoners were kept, but serves now as a store-house for the Lord Derby's wines: It has a moat round it, and draw-bridge, and is a very strong place On the other side of the castle is the governor's house, which is very commodious and spacious. Here is also a fine chapel, where divine service is celebrated morning and afternoon, and several offices belonging to the court of chancery." (www.isle-of-man.com)
Left of the castle Rushen (nearby) is the Castle Arms - famous pub "The Glue Pot".
Quaint, cosy and full of charm from a bygone era. "The Glue Pot" as it is far better known sits right on the harbour in Castletown and is literally a stone's throw from Castle Rushen.
The story goes that it was built in 1750 by a wealthy man for his daughter and since then the building has been many things before finally becoming the pub we know and love today. The name "glue pot" derives from when smugglers used to pop in for some light refreshment and find it difficult to leave and the name just stuck (no pun intended)!
This pub is a hot spot for the World Tin Bath Races, the Southern 100 and the Manx rally. The Glue Pot boasts it's the closest pub to any castle wall in the UK and the oldest pub to appear on a currently circulated bank note (it was already the pub, when the engraving was made in 1774). (https://isle-of-man.silk.co)
In all corners are Celtic crosses.
This cross design has the circle in the center symbolizing God, the motionless mover. Although the wheel cross as a whole was originally a symbol of Christ derived from the Chi-rho monogram, it came to symbolize heaven. The interlaced knot-work, so prominent on Celtic crosses represented the beginning and the end of the eternal circle.
Celtic cross represents a unique blend of Christianity and the ancient Indo-European tradition. Cross in a circle is the ancient symbol of life and of the world order, occurring everywhere from India to Norway, however, it became the emblem of the Celtic world - Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man. Christianity brought by the monks missionaries to Ireland back in the IV century, has absorbed all the richness and beauty of the ancient Celtic culture: the myths and legends, the elements of art, the secret knowledge of the Druids. Celtic cross is a symbol of wisdom and harmony, the link between the past and the present, the emblem of Celtic culture and the entire northern European tradition.
Along the borders of banknote is interlaced Celtic design.
Denominations in numerals are in lower corners (in stylized Celtic crosses). In words at the top.
Comments:
Many thanks for the help to Sophie from the Henry Bloom Noble Library, in Douglas (Isle of Man) and Mr.Paul Weatherall, Library & Archive Services Officer, Manx National Heritage (Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin), Manx Museum, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3LY.
Security strip.
This is the last series of banknotes 5 pounds, printed by famous printer of banknotes "Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited". In this issue they printed prefix (letter D) in "Sans Serif" font, which is not common.
This edition of 1987 has become their latest release for the Isle of Man - in 3 years "Bradbury, Wilkinson & Company Limited" became part of the famous "Thomas de la Rue" and in 1991 came the banknote 5 Pounds (Manx pound) labeled by "TDLR".
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