Isle of Man Currency & Banknote Values

The first Manx banknotes were issued ad hoc by individuals who were responding to the need for paper currency on the island. Concern at the proliferation of notes and card money and the number of counterfeit items in circulation led, in 1817, to an Act of Tynwald which required issuers of notes to apply for a license and a limit was placed on the quantity of notes which could be issued. Over the next 150 years, the trend was from notes issued by individuals or groups towards notes issued by private banking companies. The most famous of these was Dumbell’s Banking Company, which was founded in 1853 as the Douglas & Isle of Man Bank. The demise of Dumbell’s Bank in February 1900 accelerated the decline of smaller Manx banks through mergers and takeovers, mainly by English banks which wanted to establish a foothold on the Isle of Man.