The history of currency in the British colony of Saint Vincent 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. As such, it should not be considered in isolation. In order to get a broad overview of currency in the region, see the article

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 ...

. 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 British

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 ...

coinage being introduced to St. Vincent in the year 1839. However, despite the circulation of British coins in St. Vincent, 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 St. Vincent in 1879 for fear that the silver standard might return. Even though the British sterling coins were made of silver, they were fractional coins of the British

gold sovereign The sovereign is a British gold coin with a nominal value of one pound sterling (£1) and contains of pure gold. Struck since 1817, it was originally a circulating coin that was accepted in Britain and elsewhere in the world; it is now a ...

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 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

, the currency of St. Vincent 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

In 1797, coins were produced for 1 black dog, 1 stampee and ¼ and ½ dollar. The black dog and stampee were made by counterstamping an "SV" monogram on French colonial coins, whilst the ¼ and ½ dollar were made by cutting 8 reales coins (

) into four or two and stamping them with the "SV" monogram. Between 1811 and 1814 currency consisted of various counterstamped Spanish and Spanish colonial coins, some of which were cut or holed. The

Spanish 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 ...

was subdivided into ''bits'', each worth 9 ''

pence A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

'', 6 '' black dogs'' or 4 ''stampees''. Before 1811, 1 dollar = 11 bits and the dollar equalled 8

Spanish real The ''real'' (English: /ɹeɪˈɑl/ Spanish: /reˈal/) (meaning: "royal", plural: ''reales'') was a unit of currency in Spanish Empire, Spain for several centuries after the mid-14th century. It underwent several changes in value relative to oth ...

es. After 1811, 1 dollar = 12 bits and 1½ dollars equalled 8 reales. 4½, 6, 9 and 12 bits coins were produced. The 4½ and 9 bits were made from 2 and 4 reales coins. The 4½ bits was counterstamped with "S", "IV½" and "B", whilst the 9 bits was counterstamped with "S" and "IX". To produce the 6 and 12 bits, 8 reales coins were holed. The central plug was stamped with "S" and "VI" to produce the 6 bits, whilst the ring (or

holey dollar Holey dollar is the name given to coins used in the early history of two British settlements: Prince Edward Island (now part of Canada) and New South Wales (now part of Australia). The middle was punched out of Spanish dollars, creating two pa ...

) was stamped with "S" and "XII" to make the 12 bits. The revolutions in Spanish America cut off the supply of the

Spanish 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 at a time when Britain had recently introduced a successful gold standard. As such, it became expedient to introduce British

coinage to all the colonies. Sterling coinage was introduced following an imperial order-in-council of 1825 which set ratings for sterling in relation to the

and some other major coinages which were in circulation at the time.

Paper Money

In 1882, the first private banknotes were issued, denominated in dollars. It was pegged to

with 1 dollar = 4

s 2 pence. In 1935, the

was introduced, equal in value to all 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 1941. 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 Colonial Bank issued 5 dollars notes in 1882.

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) issued 5 dollars notes between 1926 and 1941.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Vincent Dollar Modern obsolete currencies Economy of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines History of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Currencies of the Caribbean Dollar