Collector coins of British Indian Ocean Territory

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British Overseas Territories.

The United Kingdom has several overseas territories around the world. Most of them are former British colonies. Some of these territories, such as British Antarctic Territory and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, do not have indigenous human citizens, and they are inhabited only by scientists and / or military personnel, who do not live there permanently. That is currently the case with British Indian Ocean Territory, but it was not always so.

 

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British Indian Ocean Territory.

Chagos Islands.

The territory is also known as The Chagos Islands and also The Chagos Archipelago.

From Wikipedia:

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia, and directly south of the Maldives. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands – many very small – amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi). The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27 km2 (10 sq mi), the site of a joint military facility of the United Kingdom and the United States.

The only inhabitants of the territory are US and British military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 2,500 (2012 figures). The removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973. The Chagossians, then numbering about 2,000 people, were expelled by the British government to Mauritius and the Seychelles to allow the United States to build a joint UK/US military base there. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, arguing that the forced expulsion and dispossession was illegal. The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, casual tourists, and the media.

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From Wikipedia:

Since the 1980s the government of Mauritius and the Maldives has sought to regain control over the Chagos Archipelago, which was separated from the British Colony of Mauritius by the UK in 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. On 23 June 2017, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted in favour of referring the territorial dispute between Mauritius, the Maldives and the UK to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in order to clarify the legal status of the Chagos Islands archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The motion was approved by a majority vote with 94 voting for and 15 against. Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf described the UK's administration of the Chagos Islands as "an unlawful act of continuing character". In February 2019, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that Britain should transfer the islands to Mauritius as they were not legally separated from the latter in 1965.


In December 2019 the UK elected a new government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. How will he react to the UN's ruling? Will the territory continue to be a British possession for very long?

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From Wikipedia:

The Coat of Arms of the British Indian Ocean Territory was granted in 1990 on the 25th anniversary of the territory's establishment.

The centrepiece of the arms, the shield, bears a palm tree and St. Edward's Crown on a base of three white wavy lines representing the ocean, a sun in splendour in the upper-left corner, and the Union Flag in a chief at the top. Two sea turtles are used as supporters (a hawksbill turtle and a green turtle), representing the local native wildlife. The crest comprises a naval crown through which rises a red tower bearing the territory's flag; there is no helm or mantling.

The motto is In tutela nostra Limuria, Latin for “Limuria is in our charge/trust”. This refers to the non-existent continent of Limuria (also known as Lemuria), once thought to occupy the Indian Ocean.

The palm tree and royal crown also feature in the flag of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

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From Wikipedia:

The flag of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) was granted by Queen Elizabeth II on the 25th anniversary of the BIOT in 1990. The flag is similar to the flags of other British dependencies and colonies, as it has the Union Flag in the upper hoist-side corner.

The palm tree and crown are symbols of the Indian Ocean Territory. The flag contains the Union Jack in its canton (upper hoist quarter). It depicts the waters of the Indian Ocean, where the islands are located, in the form of white and blue wavy lines. The flag also depicts a palm tree rising above the St Edward's Crown.

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2 pounds, 2009.  Obverse.

BIOT issued its first collector coin in 2009, and its legend simply celebrated this fact. It was a copper-nickel 2 pound coin, with a diameter of 38.61 mm. The coin was produced by the Pobjoy Mint.

The obverse showed the special uncouped effigy of QEII, by Ian Rank Broadley, that is reserved for commemorative coins.

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2 pounds, 2009.  Reverse.

The reverse design was taken from BIOT's coat of arms and featured turtles. The issuing of such collector pieces must be regarded as primarily political on the part of the British government. These pieces proclaim the message, we must assume, that these territories are British, that they are here, and that they are here to stay.

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Notice the similarity of BIOT's coat of arms to that of Ascension Island.

Ascension Island, 2 pounds, 2013.

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Base Ops. at Diego Garcia.

Note that BIOT's collector coins are exactly that: collector pieces. They do not circulate. The official currency is the UK pound sterling, so UK coins and banknotes circulate. However, because of the heavy presence of US military at the military base on Diego Garcia, US currency and coinage also circulates.

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2 pound coin, 2009.

BIOT's second issue was a silver and blue crystal collector coin.

It illustrated the Life of the Turtle.

It won the 2010 COTY (Coin of the Year) prize for Most Innovative Coin.

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2 pounds, 2010 and 2011.

BIOT released a collector two pound coin in 2010 the engagement of Prince William to Kate Middleton and another in 2011 to commemorate their marriage of Prince William. As with the collector pieces of other British overseas territories, royal themes loom large.

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In 2012 a 2 pound coin was issued to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen. It featured an elegant portrait of the young Queen on the reverse.

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In recent years BIOT has used a fuller-faced portrait of the Queen. This portrait seems to be favoured by the Pobjoy Mint and has been used on the coins of other British overseas territories.

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Animals are a common and popular theme on BIOT's collector coins. Archipelago Wildlife was the theme of this 2 pound piece of 2016.

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Ships are a theme with a particular relevance to the Territory. Here you see the famous Cutty Sark on a 2 pound coin of 2019.