In the Pobjoy Mint's Isle of Man cat series, a new breed every year since 1988, the year 2000 belongs to the Scottish Fold. This example is struck in gold at 1/20 ounce with a proof finish.

Every Fold descends from Susie, a white barn cat spotted in 1961 on a farm in Tayside, Scotland, by shepherd William Ross. He took one of her kittens with the same forward-folded ears and registered the breed in 1966.

The fold is a spontaneous mutation of a dominant gene. Kittens are born with straight ears that begin to fold at three or four weeks; cats whose ears never fold are known as Scottish Straights. The CFA granted championship status to the shorthaired Fold in 1978 and to the longhair in 1992, so by the turn of the millennium the breed was firmly established.