BARBADOS ONE DOLLAR COIN!

The Barbadian One Dollar Coin

By Matthew The Great Coin Roll Hunter

Barbados is located about 250 miles north-east of Trinidad. It is completely surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the easternmost island nation in the Caribbean.

Historically, the country's economy was supported by the sugarcane trade however, over the last 30 years, manufacturing, information technology, and services such as tourism and offshore financing, have grown substantially to create a diverse and stable modern economy for this small island nation. Barbados has even been listed as one of Canada's top 5 destinations for foreign capital!

The unit of currency used in Barbados is based on the Dollar, which is divided into one hundred cents. Coinage is available in 1, 5, 10, and 25 cent pieces as well as a $1 coin. Such as the specimen featured here.

The Barbadian Dollar that is still in use today is considered part of the Barbados - Commonwealth era that encompasses 1966 to the present.

After the establishment of the Central Bank of Barbados in 1972, the Barbadian Dollar officially replaced the East Caribbean dollar at equal value one year later. In 1975, the new Barbadian Dollar was then attached to the US dollar at a range of $1 US. to $2 Barbadian Dollars.

The coin in our example is known as a Barbadian One Dollar - Elizabeth II, small type; non-magnetic coin. It is composed of a copper-nickel alloy called, Cupronickel and weighs approximately 6.32 grams. This coin has a diameter of 25.85 mm, a thickness of 1.63 mm, and features an equilaterally curved heptagonal rim. Meaning, it has 7 equal sides which are slightly curved.

This specimen was minted at the Royal Canadian Mint but, does not feature any kind of mint mark. The edges are smooth and plain.

The Obverse side of this coin features a design of the National Arms of Barbados.

This design was first adopted on February 14, 1966 by a royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II, and features twin images of the national flower of Barbados called, the Pride of Barbados. Centered on a shield is a single bearded fig tree. A dolphin fish and a pelican support the shield and arms above a banner that reads, "PRIDE AND INDUSTRY".

Bookending the National Arms design are the numbers, "19" and "94", which references the date 1994 when the coin was minted.

The country's name, "BARBADOS" curves along the lower rim of the coin and beaded circle encloses each design on both sides of the coin.

The Reverse design of the 1994 Barbadian Dollar features the flying fish, which is the national fish of Barbados.

The words, "ONE DOLLAR" curve along the lower rim of the coin.

The mintage for this coin is somewhere around 3,145,000.

Thank you all for joining me on this fantastic Numismatic Adventure!

Keep growing your numismatic knowledge with this great book: Moder World Coins

A special thanks to Marsh for generously sharing his foreign coin collection with us.
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Happy Hunting!