When I heard the movie was coming out, I thought what a wonderful idea it would be to make wizard money

Taya Pobjoy, Pobjoy Mint

On one side, the gold, silver and cupro nickel coins feature Harry casting a magic spell.

On the other, there is an image of the Queen, who had to give clearance for the sale.

The coins are legal tender on the Isle of Man, although mainland retailers will accept them at their own discretion.

However, the coins' main attraction are as a collector's item.

Ms Pobjoy, who runs what is billed as Europe's largest private mint, got the idea for the coin when reading the first Potter book in which the teenage wizard goes to a magic bank and withdraws coins left to him by his parents.

"When I heard the movie was coming out, I thought what a wonderful idea it would be to make wizard money," said Ms. Pobjoy.

Royal approval

"So I approached the government on the Isle of Man and they are very pro-filming.

"They asked me to come up with designs and we worked with Warner Brothers, who licensed us.

"They were sent to Buckingham Palace for approval as her majesty has to give the go-ahead for any images of her," she said.

The bespectacled Harry, a quaint boarding-school throwback in the era of PlayStation and Pokemon, has been hailed for single-handedly teaching a whole new generation of children the joys of reading.

The publishing industry has been astonished by the universality of the books written by a single mother in an Edinburgh cafe in between school runs.

The stories have topped best-seller lists around the world from Argentina to China and have been translated into 42 languages from Albanian to Zulu.