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Comments on Official Currencies of the Islands of the Caribbean Plus

Started by Galapagos, October 05, 2009, 04:09:47 PM

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Galapagos

Parent topic: Official Currencies of the Islands of the Caribbean Plus



By "Caribbean plus", I mean the islands of the Caribbean, plus, for the sake of convenience, the two other numismatically significant islands in that general area of the world, namely St Pierre et Miquelon, and Bermuda.

I invite members to correct me where I am wrong, and to elaborate on any issues of which they have knowledge.


BC Numismatics

Dominica is the only republic that uses the East Caribbean States Dollar.Apart from Anguilla & Montserrat,the rest of them are all Dominions,but there was a proposal to impose a republic on the people of Barbados when Owen Arthur was Prime Minister of Barbados,albeit,without a referendum.

The British Virgin Islands have both their own coins,& American coins in circulation.Yes,they still issue British Postal Orders at the G.P.O. in Road Town.

Aidan.

chrisild

Guess our Dutch members can contribute a lot to the use of "gulden" and "florin" in the pre-euro Netherlands. :) Anyway, on the current pieces from Aruba they use the name "florin", and the Neth. Antilles have the word "gulden" on their coins and notes.

Christian

Figleaf

Quote from: chrisild on October 06, 2009, 12:00:58 AM
Guess our Dutch members can contribute a lot to the use of "gulden" and "florin" in the pre-euro Netherlands. :)

Not a lot, but I can say something on the use of the word florin for gulden in English. The gulden coin two ancestors. First, there was a gold coin of Florence, first issued in 1252. It sported a large heraldic lily, the symbol of Florence. It therefore received the nickname fiorino d'oro (golden flower). The coin was a huge commercial success and it was copied everywhere. This coin was even copied in England under Edward III in 1344 as a coin of 6 shillings. The English economy at the time was much less developed than that of Florence, so the issue was not pursued. The coin and its imitations were known as the goldgulden and struck from the 14th to the 17th century in Hungary, Austria and the holy Roman Empire (of which the Netherlands were a part), though.

The second ancestor is the silver thaler, in particular an imperial coin of 60 kreuzer, introduced in 1559 as the silver equivalent of the goldgulden. This coin was known as the "reichsgulden". Under emperor Charles V, both the gold and the silver coin were introduced in the Netherlands and the silver coin was there to stay. It played second fiddle to the reichsthaler (originally 68 kreuzer) until decimalization, when it became the unit of account of the Netherlands for less than two centuries, when it was replaced by the euro.

Strictly speaking, the words florin and gulden therefore refer to the same value, but while florin is a gold coin, gulden is a silver coin. Moreover, florin used in a Dutch connotation is linked to an English coin of 6 shillings, not 2 shillings.

All of this is of no importance in the Caribbean and Latin America. The people of Surinam speak many different languages, but their common language is papiamento, a mixture of Spanish, Dutch and English. Those who are more Spanish inclined like to say florin, those who are more Dutch inclined stick to gulden. Both groups are relaxed enough to know and understand both words. You'll find a somewhat similar situation on the islands.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

Galapagos

Excellent scans, Andy.

Arnold Machin designed the Bahamas reverses. He is best known for his portrait of QEII, which appears on the obverse, and also in modified form on the definitive stamps of the UK.

Philip Nathan designed the Barbados coins. His latest numismatic work is the new reverses of Gibraltar (2004 onwards). He has also designed several of the UK's Britannias, as well as the UK Royal Wedding crown featuring Prince Charles and Princess Diana.

Michael Rizzello did the reverse designs for Bermuda. Among his other designs are the original circulation designs of the Gambia, and Swaziland.

Stuart Devlin did the reverses of the Cayman Islands. He is best known for Australia's decimal designs and the first independence designs of Singapore.

Figleaf

Coins dating from before the embargo are OK. The Che coin is obviously dated much later. I also think the authorities are more worried about the Cuban pseudo coin diarrhea, since that would eat into their own pseudo coin profits.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

Galapagos

The 2c and 10c of the East Caribbean Territories look similar to an old UK pre-decimal penny and sixpence respectively. The set was designed by Humphrey Paget, who also designed the Golden Hind ship on the reverse of the UK pre-decimal halfpenny.

As for the later aluminium bronze dollar, I have one, but its lustre has largely gone.

andyg

The half cent, one cent and two cent were the same size as British ¼d, ½d and 1d.
The 10 cent was smaller than the sixpence.  The 25 cent is inbetween the UK 1/- and the USA 25c.

Figleaf

So when I wasn't looking they issued some new coins. HAH!

The plant is a fruit-bearing orange branch. This refers to the colour of the shirts of the Dutch national soccer team ;)

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

Galapagos

From a3v1:

"This news is out today:
The islands of Bonaire, Saba, and St.Eustatius, to be separated from the Netherlands Antilles in 2012, have chosen the US$ for their future legal tender.
As these islands will become part of the Netherlands homeland, there was much speculation that they would introduce the Euro. But not so!
In 2002 the Euro was introduced on the neighbouring French islands of St.Martin, Guadeloupe and Martinique. But over time this currency has proven to be too high in value to fit the local economies.
Regards,
a3v1"

<k>

Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba now use the US dollar, which became legal tender there on 1 January 2011.

Curaçao and Sint-Maarten currently use the Netherlands Antilles Guilder. In 2012 they will adopt a new common currency, to be known as the Caribbean Guilder. Like the current guilder, it will be pegged to the US dollar. http://www.currency-iso.org/dl_currency_iso_amendment_150.pdf

My thanks to forum member Christian, who was first with this news.
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.

Figleaf

An amusing development is that Dutch banks have completely lost confidence in the old currency and refuse to accept it, even though it remains valid during the transition period. This has the Foreign ministry worried. It is pressuring the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to guarantee old banknotes and it is trying to convince the banks on Schiphol airport to accept the old notes, so far without success.

This is all the more amusing because flights out of the former Netherlands Antilles carry such a high percentage of drugs couriers that the passengers are subjected to separate, more stringent customs procedures by ... uhhh ... more businesslike types, which has lead to many complaints and many interceptions and arrests.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

chrisild

Quote from: Figleaf on January 21, 2011, 08:44:22 PM
An amusing development is that Dutch banks have completely lost confidence in the old currency and refuse to accept it, even though it remains valid during the transition period. This has the Foreign ministry worried. It is pressuring the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank to guarantee old banknotes and it is trying to convince the banks on Schiphol airport to accept the old notes, so far without success.

Apparently the pressure had some effect. :) While I do not have any ANG cash, so that I cannot try it out myself, it now is apparently possible to get them exchanged in the (European) Netherlands: "Vanaf dinsdag 18 januari 2011 is het voor het publiek weer mogelijk via de kantoren van GWK Travelex Nederlands-Antilliaanse Guldens om te wisselen. Dit is het resultaat van het verzoek van de Minister van Financiën vorige maand aan de Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) om een oplossing te vinden voor het niet langer kunnen omwisselen van de Antilliaanse gulden in Nederland." http://www.dnb.nl/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht-en-archief/nieuws-2011/dnb246028.jsp

Christian

Figleaf

The last sentence is the key. The Central Bank has agreed to pay for transportation and is taking the risk of non-acceptance. Well, it does have more clout than any private bank, it controls the changeover operation and it can probably even deduct its claims from Dutch subsidies to the local governments. Nevertheless, taxpayers pay transportation cost and carry all residual risk. No wonder the banks agreed.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

<k>

More on the Caribbean guilder, which is to be introduced in 2012.

The currency will be phased in over three months. The 2.5 guilder coin and the 25 guilder notes present in the Netherlands Antillean guilder series (as well as in the other guilder sets in the Kingdom of the Netherlands) will no longer be produced and will be replaced by 20-based denominations.

Source: Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_guilder
Visit the website of The Royal Mint Museum.

See: The Royal Mint Museum.