Those of you with a number of Isle of Man or Gibraltar circulation coins in your collections may have noticed that most of these have on them a diemark/dieletters e.g. AA, AB, AC,... The letters used are all uppercase letters and they take their distinctive style from Hiberno-Norse runes. In simple terms, one thing distinctive about these letters is that they are made from straight lines only and no curves. Typically the letters are about three-quarters of a millimetre high and on more recent coins (since around 1993) they are often not as plain and clear as they were on earlier pieces. The diemarks always appear on the reverse of the coins. So how does this relate to Bi-metallics? I have an Isle of Man Bi-metallic two Pound coin of 1997, it is a normal strike in the normal "metals", what we call a "business strike". My piece has the diemark "AA", this is to be found under the front of the main car on the reverse. Possibly all such two pound coins will have this diemark especially since it is possible that not all that many pieces were made. Perhaps there will be more than one different diemark on the 1998 pieces as it seems that the more pieces are made, the greater the number of diemarks used. Very often for business strikes the diemark "AA" is followed by "AB" then "AC" etc... Though over the last few years the number of circulation pieces available with more than one diemark does seem to have declined. Does the "business strike" Gibraltar Bi-metallic two Pound coin of 1997 have the "AA" diemark? Has anyone got a 1998 piece of either of these coins? The report on the front cover of the March'98 edition of World Coin News strongly suggests that the Manx and the Gibraltan coins of the "circulation" denominations (this includes the Two Pound coins) will use the new portrait of our Queen starting this year. (Crowns dated 1998 have been issued with a version of the previous portrait, but this is not the version that was used on the circulation coins.) As for the "collector" editions of the above two pound coins, base metal proofs (if these exist) will likely have the "BB" diemark if any AND the silver proof pieces will likely have the "D" diemark, if any. Can anyone tell me what they have (or have seen) in terms of diemarks. Beware - the Pobjoy Mint's illustrations can be misleading regarding finding out which coins have diemarks - actual coins need to be seen. Perhaps a reader from the Pobjoy Mint could help with information about the above... By the way I have a " .BMP " format drawing I did of the diemarks letters "A" through "H" if anyone is interested in this.