Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

James Stanley, Earl of Derby (1709-1736), Maguire/Poole issue, Sixpence, 1723, probably from dies by W. Wood, in silver, eagle and child on cap of Maintenance, rev. triskeles, edge crudely grained, 4.17g/6h (Prid. 26; KM. Pn 10; cf. Cain 2698). About very fine and toned, extremely rare £1,500-2,000

Provenance: SNC March 1995 (1176); H.E. Manville Collection.

Alan Kelly writes: ‘The Manx issues of 1721-5 are not patterns, but an unofficial coinage struck by Richard Maguire, a Dublin banker, and Josiah Poole, a wealthy Liverpool merchant, who leased the customs of the Isle of Man from the Earl of Derby, in March, 1721, for the sum of £1,050 a year. It is my opinion that the coins were manufactured locally, almost certainly at Ballasalla by the Wilks family, who later assisted Samuel Topping and Amos Dyall with the manufacture of the 1733 coinage in Castle Rushen.

‘Besides not being patterns I believe I have enough evidence to say that these silver coins struck from the halfpenny dies are in fact sixpences. Likewise the coins struck in silver from the penny dies are shillings. Manx coinage was never weight related so why pay for extra dies? The dies themselves were probably acquired by Poole and Maguire from William Wood, but there isn't any evidence to support that, other than Maguire's Irish connection.’