The history of currency in the British colony of

St. Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...

closely follows that of the British

Eastern Caribbean The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS; French: ''Organisation des États de la Caraïbe orientale'', OECO) is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to economic harmonisation and integration, protection of human and legal ...

territories in general. Even though Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704 brought the gold standard to the West Indies, silver

pieces of eight The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content fine silver. It wa ...

(

Spanish dollars The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content fine silver. It wa ...

and later

Mexican dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight (, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content fine silver. It w ...

s) 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 St. Kitts formally adopting the

sterling Sterling may refer to: Currency * The English penny, historically known as the ''sterling'' * Pound sterling, the currency of the United Kingdom * Sterling silver, a grade of silver Places United Kingdom * Stirling, a Scottish city whose al ...

currency in the year 1849 (and

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

in 1858). However, despite the circulation of British coins in St. Kitts, the silver

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

in the wake of that crisis. 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 The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s 2 pence. From 1949, with the introduction of the

British West Indies dollar The British West Indies dollar (BWI$) was the currency of British Guiana and the Eastern Caribbean territories of the British West Indies from 1949 to 1965, when it was largely replaced by the East Caribbean dollar, and was one of the currencies u ...

, the currency of St. Kitts became officially tied up with that of the British

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.

Early history

The currency comprises various cut Spanish dollars and overstamped French colonial coins. The dollar was subdivided into 12 bits (each worth 9 pence). In 1801, four types of coins were issued. Coins for pence, known as '' black dogs'', were produced by countermarking French colonial 24 deniers coins with the letter "S". The other coins were , and dollar pieces, produced by cutting Spanish or Spanish colonial 8 reales (

) and countermarking them with an "S". A second issue between 1809 and 1812 was of coins for pence ( black dog) produced by countermarking

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

n 2

sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) (, ) is a historical, cultural and geographical region of Morocco, which constitutes part of the region administration of Souss-Massa and Guelmim-Oued Noun. The region is known for the en ...

coins with the letter "S.K.". In 1830, sterling was established as the official currency of the island. 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

s 2 pence. In 1935, the

was introduced, equal in value to the Saint Kitts dollar and other dollars circulating in the

British West Indies The British West Indies (BWI) were the territories in the West Indies under British Empire, British rule, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Montserrat, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Antigua and Barb ...

. Private banks continued to issue notes until 1938. The British West Indies dollar was replaced in 1965 by the

East Caribbean dollar The Eastern Caribbean dollar (currency symbol, symbol: EC$; ISO 4217, code: XCD) is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The successor to the British West Indies d ...

Banknotes

The

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...

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 Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

(which had taken over the Colonial Bank) began issuing 5 dollars notes and continued until 1937.
1938 RBC Saint Kitts banknote (obverse)

1938 RBC Saint Kitts banknote (reverse)

References

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Kitts Dollar Modern obsolete currencies Economy of Saint Kitts and Nevis History of Saint Kitts and Nevis Currencies of the Caribbean Saint Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla Dollar