Dominican dollar
Encyclopedia
The history of currency in the British colony of Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

 closely follows that of the British Eastern Caribbean territories in general. Even though Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704 brought the gold standard to the West Indies, silver pieces of eight
Pieces of Eight
Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album and second concept album by Styx, released September 1, 1978.The album was the band's follow-up to their Triple Platinum selling The Grand Illusion album....

 (Spanish dollars and later Mexican dollars) continued to form a major portion of the circulating currency right into the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Britain adopted the gold standard in 1821 and an imperial order-in-council of 1838 resulted in Dominica formally adopting the sterling
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

 currency in the year 1842. However, despite the circulation of British silver coins in Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

, the silver pieces of eight
Pieces of Eight
Pieces of Eight is the eighth studio album and second concept album by Styx, released September 1, 1978.The album was the band's follow-up to their Triple Platinum selling The Grand Illusion album....

 continued to circulate alongside them, and the private sector continued to use dollar accounts for reckoning. The international silver crisis of 1873 signalled the end of the silver dollar era in the West Indies and silver dollars were demonetized in Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

 in the wake of this crisis for fear that a silver standard might return. Even though the British sterling coins were made of silver, they were fractional coins of the British gold sovereign and hence they maintained their gold value. This left a state of affairs, in which the British coinage circulated, being reckoned in dollar accounts at an automatic conversion rate of 1 dollar = 4 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

s 2 pence.

From 1949, with the introduction of the British West Indies dollar, the currency of Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

 became officially tied up with that of the British Eastern Caribbean territories in general. The British sterling coinage was eventually replaced by a new decimal coinage in 1955, with the new cent being equal to one half of the old penny.

The fixed exchange rate of $4.80 = £1 sterling (equivalent to the old $1 = £4 2s 0d) continued right up until 1976.

Early history

The first dollar consisted of various cut or holed Spanish dollars and other Spanish colonial
Spanish colonial real
The silver real was the currency of the Spanish colonies in the Americas and the Philippines. In the seventeenth century the silver real was established at two billon reals or sixty-eight Spanish maravedís. Gold escudos were also issued...

 coins. The dollar was subdivided into bits (worth 9 pence
Penny
A penny is a coin or a type of currency used in several English-speaking countries. It is often the smallest denomination within a currency system.-Etymology:...

). Before 1813, there were 11 bits to the holed dollar (12½ bits to an unholed dollar). After 1813, there were 16 bits to the holed dollar (18 bits to an unholed dollar). In 1842, sterling was established as the official currency of the island.

The first series of coins was produced between 1791 and 1798 in denominations of 1½, 5½ and 11 bits, with the 5½ bits holed 4 reales coins, the 11 bits holed 8 reales coins and the 1½ bits the plugs from producing the 11 bits coins.

The second series was issued in 1813 and consisted of 3, 4, 6, 12 and 16 bits. The 12 and 16 bits were holed 8 reales coins, with the plugs from the 12 bits used to make the other coins. Whole plugs made the 6 bits, halved plugs made the 3 bits and the plugs were themselves holed to make the 4 bits.

The third series was issued between 1816 and 1818 and consisted of 2 bits and 2 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

s 6 pence (marked 2/6, equal to 3⅓ bits). The 2 bits were holed 2 reales coins whilst the 2/6 coins were quartered 8 reales coins.

In 1913, the first private banknotes were issued, denominated in dollars. From 1920, some of these notes were also denominated in sterling, with 1 dollar = 4 shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...

s 2 pence. In 1935, the British West Indies dollar was introduced, equal in value to the Dominican dollar and other dollars circulating in the British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...

. Private banks continued to issue notes until 1941. The British West Indies dollar was replaced in 1965 by the East Caribbean dollar
East Caribbean dollar
The East Caribbean dollar is the currency of eight of the nine members of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States...

.

Banknotes

The Royal Bank of Canada
Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...

 introduced 5 dollar notes in 1913, continuing to issue them until 1938. The Colonial Bank issued 5 dollars notes until 1926, after which Barclays Bank (which had taken over the Colonial Bank) began issuing 5 dollars notes and continued until 1941.
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