Pitcairn Islands: collector coins

[<k>]

From 2009 Pitcairn began issuing colourised coins of sea creatures.

The $2 coin of 2009 showed a humpback whale - all rather predictable.

However, one of the 2010 colourised issues showed this angry-looking deep sea fish.

[<k>]

In 2009 Pitcairn issued an official set of collector coins. This set was designed to look like a circulation set. However, the Pitcairn islanders use New Zealand coins and notes, and these collector coins do not circulate and were not intended to. They are harmless enough in themselves, if you understand that they are not used as money, and the Pitcairners earn a little money by selling such trinkets.

The reverse designs featured themes related to Pitcairn and its history.

See also: Official "circulation-like" sets.

[<k>]

The set seen above was issued again, dated 2010.

This time the Bounty appeared on the reverse of the $2 coin.

[<k>]

See also some issued and unissued designs in this topic:

Pitcairn: unadopted coin designs.

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See also:

1] The Worldwide Usage of the Effigy of Queen Elizabeth II

2] Where to find the British Overseas Territories on this forum

[gordarpi]

It seems some new coins might see the daylight soon!

"The Philatelic Bureau will be run from September 20th 2020 by Tower Mint in the United Kingdom. They will not only manage the stamps of Pitcairn but bring a coins programme into the mix."

Source: http://www.stamps.gov.pn/homePage.html

[eurocoin]

That's interesting news, although very disappointing. The contact with Mr and Mrs Watson over the years was always good as was the contact with the New Zealand Mint, which used to have the exclusive contract for the coin minting of the Pitcairn Islands until recently. The NZ Mint would subcontract the production of all silver coins to other mints but all gold coins of the Pitcairn Islands were minted in-house. Now with Tower Mint, the communications are no doubt going to be a drama.

But then again, no new coins had been minted for the Pitcairn Islands since 2013 so maybe it is good that now there will be new coins again.

[eurocoin]

I have now looked further into it and obtained some interesting details. The Pitcairn Islands Government first signed an agreement with the New Zealand Mint in 2007 for 5 years. In 2012 the agreement was renewed with another 5 years. Initial expectations were that the income for the Pitcairn Islands Government would be 100,000 NZ Dollars per year but this was never achieved. The actual income was less than 20,000 NZD per year. In 2013 they entered the bullion market. It was mentioned that: "The production of coins is restricted by UK Government design regulations and thus is unlikely to increase in the future".

Around June 2018 the government of the Pitcairn Islands for the first time discussed the expired contract. 66 leftover circulation-like coin sets were transferred to the islands. Each of the permanent residents received a coin set, with the remainder made available for sale in the shop on the islands.

Then in February 2019, the Administrator of the Pitcairn Islands mentioned that a proposed commemorative coin issue was not suitable for the Pitcairn Islands as the pounds coin is not currency of the Pitcairn Islands. Apparently a coin manufacturer wanted to issue a commemorative denominated in pounds for the Pitcairn Islands. That would of course have been much more succesful amongst collectors in the UK. It seems that this proposal was for a new 12-sided 1 pound coin for the Pitcairn Islands, as the UK Government had released a statement only a month prior that amongst other things the Pitcairn Islands were now allowed to have a new 1 pound coin.

Subsequently around December 2019 there was a meeting between Tower Mint and government officials. And in June of this year the Tower Mint was for the first time named as the new coin and stamps manufacturer. The latter is interesting as Tower Mint has, from what I understand, no experience with stamps.

[gordarpi]

Thanks a lot for investigating the case and the detailed information shared on the background. Remains to be seen then when Tower Mint will show up with the plans for new releases including the philatelic domain.

Happy New Year to all readers btw! 

[eurocoin]

The government of the Pitcairn Islands has authorized Tower Mint to release a number of collectors coins this year. Amongst other things coins to commemorate the Queen's birthday and the Year of the Ox were approved. The designs on the coins also received approval of the palace.

Proposals of Tower Mint for respectively coins to commemorate 9/11 featuring the Twin Towers and Dennis the Menace raised questions of the government. They wanted information on the commercial plans and asked Tower Mint whether a link to Pitcairn could be included in the designs. Tower Mint said that as for the proposed Dennis the Menace coin that would not be possible because of copyright issues. It remains to be seen whether these 2 proposed coins will be authorized.

With these themes it seems that Tower Mint is aiming at the UK and US market. The UK because of it being a British Overseas Territory and the Queen being featured on the coin and the US because of the denomination in dollars and, quite possibly, as the UK coin collecting market alone would not be large enough for it to be profitable.

It will be the first time in 8 years that the Pitcairn Islands release new coins.