Danish West Indies

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Danish West Indies, 10 cents, 1862.

The Danish West Indies are now the United States Virgin Islands. According to Wikipedia:

The Danish West India and Guinea Company settled on St. Thomas island first in 1672, expanding to St. John in 1683 (a move disputed with the British until 1718), and purchasing St. Croix from the French West Indies Company in 1733. In 1754, the islands were sold to the Danish king, Frederick V of Denmark, becoming royal Danish colonies. At times during the Napoleonic Wars, the islands were occupied by the British; first from March 1801 to March 27, 1802, and then again from December 1807 to November 20, 1815, when they were returned to Denmark.

What interests me about their coins is that, for their day, some of the designs look surprisingly modern and would not have looked out of place in the 1950s.

The 10 cents coin that was issued from 1859 to 1879, during the reigns of Frederik VII and Christian IX, depicts a sugar cane plant. It is superbly designed, at a time when thematic designs were still not at all common.

Danish West Indies, 10 cents, 1878.

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Danish West Indies, 5 cents, 1878.







Danish West Indies, 20 cents, 1878.

The 5 cents and 20 cents coins between 1859 and 1879 depicted the same design of a ship under sail. 

Again, for its time, it is a very modern-looking thematic design.

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Danish West Indies, 10 cents, 1905.

The olive branch on the 10 cents/50 bit coin of 1905 is also thematic.

It is a less modern choice than a ship or sugar cane, though.

It is still very well designed and quite realistic too.

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Danish West Indies, 5 cents, 1905.

The 1 cent/5 bit, 2 cents/10 bit and 5 cents/25 bit coins of 1905 all carry the same design.

It features a trident, a caduceus and a sickle.

This is symbolic and rather old-fashioned in concept.

It is still a strong design, though.

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Danish West Indies, 20 cents, 1878.

I notice the small heart mintmark on some of these designs.

It always annoys me when I see it on modern Danish coins.


It looks rather kitschy.

I am surprised to see how long it has been in existence.


I find modern Danish coin design very poor and boring.

Far better to look at the old Danish West Indies coins instead.

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Danish West Indies, 2 francs / 40 cents, 1907.

The 1 franc/20 cents and 2 francs/40 cents coins of 1905 and 1907 depict three liberties.

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Danish West Indies, 50 francs, 1904.

The gold 20 francs/4 daler and 50 francs/10 daler coins of 1904 and 1905 both portray a seated liberty figure.