Dieletter Pairs

AA thru' AH

This series first appeared in 1978 on the Virenium coins and came into use on the other base metal pieces the following year. This series is only used on the normal circulation strikes. Virenium pieces I know only with "AA" thru' "AD". Also "AF" I only have on a Gibraltar piece, perhaps some Isle of Man "AF" pieces exist though. "AH" is known only on the Manx 2 Pence of 1979. Of all my coins with this series of dieletters, around 60% have the "AA" dieletters. Pieces of the last few years are even more likely to be "AA".

The dieletter pairs of this series are of course found on the normal strike pieces of very many types including (of course) the series KM-207, 208, 209.1, 209.2, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215. However, of note is the fact that for this particular series the dieletter pairs are known to wander. On the 1 Penny (KM-207) there are three positions/orientations, all three of which occur on the 1991 pieces.This wandering sees the dieletter pair in two very distinct places on the 2 Pences (KM-208) with both positions known for the1991AA. There are also two distinct positions on each of the 50 Pence (KM-212). On the 5 Pence (KM-209.2) and the 1 Pound (KM-213) there are three positions, two of which are a little similar. On the 20 Pence (KM-211) the variation in dieletter position is negligible. Of the other types, I cannot comment on the positions known, as I do not have enough examples.

This dieletter pair appears on some of the Copper-Nickel circulation strike of the Christmas 1988 50 Pence (KM-244). This rather seems to have been an error on the part of the mint. There are normal strike pieces with "AA" known for this type, surely "BA" came about through the erroneous reversal of the letters "A" and "B" in what should have been a dieletter pair "AB". I have heard that there are some Isle of Man 1 Penny coins of 1999 with "BA" on them too - not seen one yet though.

All proof virenium coins have on them one of the dieletter pairs in this series. This series is now used on all base metal proofs of the circulation types (since 1982 with some exceptions). The "BC" dieletter pair does not occur very often. Previously the proof versions of the non-Virenium base-metal circulation coins had on them the "DD", "DE" series of dieletters - this was in 1980 and 1981 (more on this later). There are though a few non-Virenium proof pieces without dieletters on them against what one might expect. Note that the proof coins are sometimes described by the Pobjoy Mint as having a "Diamond Finish". A little further evidence regarding this series of dieletters, extra to just observations, is the following quote "Yes, all "BB" pieces are base metal" - Charles Pobjoy - 13/Nov/97.

These reportedly appear on the coins of the Millennium of Tynwald set of five crowns, these are as KM-46, 47, 48, 49 and 50. I have a set of the normal strike Copper-Nickel pieces (KM-46, 47, 48, 49 and 50) and only the KM-47 piece has dieletters, the dieletter pair is "CB". The Silver Proof set of these I have seen (these are KM-46a, 47a, 48a, 49a and 50a) and all of these were without dieletters. No other crowns are known with dieletters.

The non-Virenium coins in my "diamond finish" sets of 1980 and 1981 (i.e. the 1/2 Penny thru' 50 Pence) all have the dieletter pair "DD". Possibly these are the only types/dates to have on them this pair of dieletters. (Remember that a similar set of coins of 1979 is not known.) The "DE" dieletter pair is also reported, but on which coins and which date I do not know, chances are that "DE" appears where "DD" might have - but this is guessing. My 1980 and 1981 sets with the "DD" dieletters on the 1/2 thru' 50 Pence coins are described on their respective certificates as being with a "Diamond Finish", these sets also contain Virenium piece(s) with the "BB" dieletters. This finish in my opinion is no different at all to the finish on coins made a few years later by the Pobjoy Mint, certified as Proof e.g. my individually cased Virenium Proof one pound coins. The coins in the 1980 and 1981 "Diamond Finish" sets are most definitely different to the pieces struck for circulation. The "Diamond Finish" pieces have mirror-like fields and frosted features - not at all like the circulation strikes. Of course the pieces are also distinguished by different dieletters (circulation pieces have two dieletters, with the first one being "A").