Coinage of Singapore

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Map of South East Asia.

Map of Singapore.

From Wikipedia:

The Republic of Singapore is an island city-state in Southeast Asia. It lies one degree (137 kilometres or 85 miles) north of the equator, at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south and Peninsular Malaysia to the north. Singapore's territory consists of one main island along with 62 other islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 square kilometres or 50 square miles). The country is known for its transition from a developing to a developed one in a single generation under the leadership of its founder Lee Kuan Yew.

In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the company's collapse in 1858, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from the British Empire in 1963 by joining Malaysia along with other former British territories (Sabah and Sarawak), but separated two years later over ideological differences, becoming a sovereign nation in 1965. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its workforce.

The city-state is home to 5.6 million residents, 39% of whom are foreign nationals, including permanent residents. There are four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin Chinese, and Tamil; most Singaporeans are bilingual and English serves as the nation's lingua franca, while Malay is the national language. Its cultural diversity is reflected in its extensive ethnic cuisine and major festivals. Pew Research has found that Singapore has the highest religious diversity of any country. Multi-racialism has been enshrined in its constitution since independence, and continues to shape national policies in education, housing, politics, among others.

Singapore is a unitary parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The People's Action Party has won every election since self-government began in 1959. As one of the five founding members of ASEAN, Singapore is the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat and Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) Secretariat, as well as many international conferences and events. It is also a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth of Nations.

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Flag of Singapore.

From Wikipedia:

The symbolism of the flag of Singapore is officially as follows:

Red symbolises "universal brotherhood and equality of man".

White symbolises "pervading and everlasting purity and virtue".


The waxing crescent moon "represents a young nation on the ascendant".

The five stars "stand for democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality".

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Coat of arms of Singapore.

From Wikipedia:

The National Coat of Arms of Singapore is the heraldic symbol representing the Southeast Asian island nation of Singapore. It was adopted in 1959, the year Singapore became self-governing within the British Empire. The committee that created it, headed by then Deputy Prime Minister Toh Chin Chye, was also responsible for the national flag and the national anthem of Singapore.

At the centre of the emblem is a red shield bearing a white crescent (a new moon, representing a rising young nation) and five white stars (representing various national ideals including multiculturalism), supported by a lion and a tiger (representing Singapore and Malaysia respectively); below them is a blue ribbon inscribed with Majulah Singapura in gold, Malay for "Onward Singapore".

The supporters of the shield are a lion and a tiger: the tiger symbolises the nation's historical and close connections to Malaysia (which Singapore was a state of from 1963 to 1965) while the lion represents Singapore itself.

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INTRODUCTION OF THE SINGAPORE DOLLAR

From Wikipedia:

Between 1845 and 1939, Singapore used the Straits dollar. This was replaced by the Malayan dollar, and, from 1953, the Malaya and British Borneo dollar, which were issued by the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Malaya and British Borneo.

Singapore continued to use the common currency upon joining Malaysia in 1963, but only two years after Singapore's expulsion and independence from Malaysia in 1965, the monetary union between Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei broke down. Singapore established the Board of Commissioners of Currency, Singapore, on 7 April 1967 and issued its first coins and notes. Nevertheless, the Singapore dollar was exchangeable at par with the Malaysian ringgit until 1973, and interchangeability with the Brunei dollar is still maintained.

Initially, the Singapore dollar was pegged to the pound sterling at a rate of two shillings and four pence to the dollar, or S$60 = £7, working out to 8.57 dollars to the pound sterling. This peg lasted until the demise of the Sterling Area due to the Nixon Shock in the early 1970s, after which the Singaporean dollar was linked to the US dollar for a short time.

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SINGAPORE'S FIRST NATIONAL COINAGE

From Wikipedia:

In 1967, the first series of coins was introduced in denominations of 1, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 dollar. These coins depicted wildlife and other images relating to the island nation and were designed by Stuart Devlin, the same artist credited for the 1966 designs on Australia's decimal coin series. The sizes were the same as those used for the Malaysian ringgit and based directly on the old coinage of the former Malaya and British Borneo dollar. The 1 cent coin was bronze while the other denominations were copper-nickel. Later, in 1976, the 1 cent coin was changed to copper-clad steel. The production of the first series was phased out by 1985.

See also the unadopted designs for Singapore by Stuart Devlin.

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Obverse of the bronze 1 cent coin.

The design includes rice stalks.

A similar design appeared on the obverse of all the coins.

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Reverse of the 1 cent coin.

The reverse design featured a high-rise flat block.

It illustrated the concept of community living.

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The 5 cents coin.

The 5 cents coin depicted a great white egret on the reverse.

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Reverse of the 50 cents coin.

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Reverse of the 10 cents coin.

The reverse design featured a sea horse.

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Obverse of the 20 cents coin.

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Reverse of the 20 cents coin.

The reverse design featured a Swordfish.  Xiphias gladius.

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Obverse of the 50 cents coin.

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Reverse of the 50 cents coin.

The reverse design featured a Pterois volitans.

This fish has various common names:

butterfly cod; lion fish; fire fish; and scorpion fish - the fish has a poisonous sting.

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Butterfly cod.