Andreas farmers are hoping that auctioning a rare collection of Isle of Man Christmas coins will help fund their daughter’s new business in New Zealand.

The coins had been an annual festive gift for their daughter Katie from her brother Chris who had collected coins from a young age.

The coins marked each year from her birth until she turned 18.

Katie, 37, emigrated to New Zealand several years ago, leaving the coins behind to her parents Steve, 65 and Beth Martin, 63 , who run Smeale Farm and holiday cottages in Andreas.

Katie is currently in the process of setting up her own company as an events organiser and DJ in New Zealand.

In February, Steve and Beth saw that the Manx Independent had reported on a collection of rare Manx Christmas coins, produced by Pobjoy Mint, selling for £9,640 at auction in England - more than three times the estimate.

The Martins spoke to their daughter and decided to have her coins appraised, thinking that the funds could go towards starting up her new business on the other side of the world.

Steve said: ’When we saw that the Isle of Man Christmas coins had started to go up in value, we mentioned it to Katie and it seemed the right time to sell.

’She wants to put the proceeds from the sale towards buying a van to transport her [DJ] equipment.’

The Martins contacted the same auction house, Richard Winterton Auctioneers in Staffordshire, and arrangements were made to courier the coins to England.

Catalogued across four lots, the collection includes 1984 Isle of Man coins from the year Katie was born plus many from the Pobjoy Mint Christmas series of 50p coins, mounted and framed in Christmas cards and many with the collectable ’diamond finish’.

They are produced by the same mint as the Manx coins which received ’a huge amount of interest’ in February’s auction.

Surrey-based Pobjoy Mint was founded in 1965 by Derek Pobjoy, who purchased a coin press after leaving his father, Ernest Pobjoy’s jewellery and masonry business to set up a mint.

Among Katie’s coins is a mixture of the old-style large 50p and the smaller shape currently in circulation.

One of the unique coins blends the island’s TT heritage with the series’ Christmas theme, showing a motorcycle and sidecar driving through a wintry scene.

The coins will be on sale behind closed doors at an online streamed auction (due to Covid-19 restrictions) this Monday.