Manx pound for the island since 1865. In 1971 the United Kingdom moved to a decimal currency, with the pound subdivided into 100 pence. The Isle of Man Government, having issued its own banknotes for ten years, took the opportunity to approach the Royal Mint and request its own versions of the decimal coins, which were introduced in 1971. The "Murrey Pennies" of 1668 were the first to depict the 'triskeles' symbol and the Island motto ""Quocunque Gesseris Stabit"" (sic), both of which have continued to feature on Manx coinage until the present day (the motto was corrected to ""Quocunque Jeceris Stabit""
Pound sterling English traders stipulated to be paid in pounds of the "Easterlings", which was contracted to "'sterling". For further discussion of the etymology of "sterling", see sterling silver. The currency sign for the pound is £, which is usually written with a single cross-bar (as on sterling bank notes), though a version with a double cross-bar (₤) is also sometimes seen. This symbol derives from medieval Latin documents; the Roman words "libra", "solidus", and "denarius" (£sd) referred to pounds, shillings and pence in the British pre-decimal (duodecimal) currency system and the black-letter "L" was the abbreviation for "libra", the basic Roman