Johnny 1989

Cyprus

Complete set of British Cyprus coins issued with Queen Elizabeth II's portrait, these were the last coins issued with a British Monarch's portrait. Oddly enough although Cyprus went independent later than some other territories coins from here under British rule are harder to get hold off compared to other regions.

Cook Islands

EDIT: First series pictures added

Further Edit: 2010 Set added

Images of the original set of coins issued in the Cook Islands, this particular set is dated 1983. Included here is the original 50c design, which was discontinued in the late 80'/early 90's. Interestingly enough not one of these coins still circulated, as of 2006 the $1 coin has been shrunk & changed shape and all the other coins have been withdrawn either because they have discontinued due to rising costs or due to the size change of the coins issued in New Zealand. Also included here is a bonus scan of the pictures and description of each coin.

An absolutely fascinating collection of coins have carried the "Cook Islands" legend, pictured above are the current circulating coins, I believe that the larger 5c coin was a commemorative only & that the smaller one still circulates. Interestingly enough the 1c & 2c were withdrawn in 1987 however the 1c was reintroduced in 2003 with several different designs. The designs for the 20c & 50c have both changed since introduction, the $1 coin has changed shape, the $2 coin was the first regularly circulating triangular shaped coin & it was one of the first regions to have a regularly circulating $5 coin.

Coming soon, a set of the original decimal Cook Island coins from the mid 80's & a rather interesting set of Cook Island coins issued this year, which at present (according to Wikipedia) seem to have been introduced for commemorative purposes only. I hope to have both these sets within the next few weeks.

EDIT: With thanks to AndyG for the following information, as of 2006 only the $1, $2 & $5 coins still circulate, all others have been withdrawn due to the change in size of their 10-50c coins & the withdrawal of the 5c coin. All 10-50c coins that circulate are now from New Zealannd, the $1-$5 coins are still the Cook Island variants. Whether the situation changes in the near future, that remains to be seen.

Here's a little oddity in 2010 this special set was released for the Cook Islands, which sees the return of the 2c coin & the shape for the $1 coin change. However as I understand it these coins are for commemorative coin collectors & will not be circulating on the Cook Islands. This coin marks yet another portrait variation for Elizabeth II

Bermuda

Complete set here, interestingly enough the 50c was withdrawn in 1988 & the $1 coin is the second version, the original $1 coin issued in 1983 was modelled on the British £1 but was unpopular with residents of Bermuda (according to Wikipedia) The designs remain the same to this day.

Belize

Previously known as British Honduras, Belize is the only country still to issue coins with Queen Elizabeth II's first crowned portrait. Only the $1 coin is missing here at present, I hope to get one in the near future. Although more plainer than other regions, I like the pattern on the 10, 20 & 50c coins, in particular the 50c one.

Great idea! I had some niggling questions about the design anyway -- at least the crowned young head design, which seems to have been standardized across several commonwealth nations. Wondered if that was because the coins were made in one location and then shipped out... or whatever other reason there might be. I assume not making localized obverses was a cost-saving measure, but I could be wrong.

I'm not entirely sure in all honesty, oddly enough Belize still uses the crowned first portrait, I shall post up some pictures later this evening (BST). The only portrait of which there seems to be no variation is the second portrait, the most variations seems to be the third portrait & Canada introduced it's own fourth portrait, whereas most other territories use the standard fourth portrait, although there is an alternative fourth portrait used on commemorative coins. I do plan to post pics of the various portraits used for Queen Elizabeth II shortly

i've thought about this sort of collection ... and it just seems endless ...

It does doesn't it, it has taken me 11 years so far to collect coins from all territories, and even now I'm light on certain areas, in particular Fiji (pre-decimal), Southern Rhodesia/Rhodesia & Nyasaland/Rhodesia, Cayman Islands, Canada, Seychelles and North Borneo & Malaya (and other various names this area was known as under QEII's reign).

However I can fully recommend in getting into collecting coins of QEII, there are so many interesting designs out there, and you discover that there are places where coins are issued that you've probably never ever heard of. Considering also that since she has been on the throne quite a few regions have discontinued the use of a British Monarch's portrait for various reasons, she may indeed be the Monarch who's portrait has appeared on the most regions at any one time, ever.

Anyway, some more sets on their way very soon, in the next hour infact.

British Virgin Islands

Lovely coins here, with (I assume) birds of the British Virgin Islands, these coins are still sealed 36 years on, which I'm rather thankful for as I imagine they would have looked a bit like the Bahama Islands coins above, tonage wise. From what I understand these are only (or were only) issued as collectors sets as the BVI have used the US Dollar as their official currency since 1961, shame really as I think these are rather nice looking coins.

UPDATE: British Caribbean Territories added to this section

British Caribbean Territories

Examples of the British Caribbean Territories coins before the currency was relabelled "East Caribbean States" unfortunately several of the coins here have some lustre on them but hopefully you can see the similarity in designs between the BCT & ECS coins. My favourite by far however is the 50c coin, which unfortunately no longer circulates, interestingly enough when the BCT became the ECS there was no new 50c coin

East Caribbean States

Rather oddly these coins seem to have a dramatic overall, shape wise, over the years, with all but the 10c & 25c remaining the same shape & size (although I presume that seeing as the 1c is now the same shape & very similar size as the 10c, that the 10c may have possibly being redesigned. Oddly enough in this current world where coins are designed with partially sighted/blind people in mind, it seems odd that the ECS coins have changed from their rather distinct shapes to all being round coins for the 1, 2 & 5c with the inside edge being different on each one, however the $1 coin has changed from round to an Decagon. The 1, 2 & 5c coins are all made of aluminium whereas the rest are made of more traditional metals. I unfortunately do not have the 50c coin.

EDIT: Turns out that the ECS doesn't have a 50c coin, just the 1, 2, 5, 10, 25c & $1 coins. Interestingly enough as well the $1 coin has become a round shape (again)

Thanks for doing that, J! I love all the animals on the designs.

No problem

Turns out the smaller 10p for St Helena has a different design after all (two dolphins I believe), I'll post pictures once these eventually arrive I have to be honest of all the things on coins, animals are one of my faves (along with Britannia and the like), prefer them over buildings myself. A couple more sets coming up in a few minutes, one with some more lovely animal designs.

I have a $2 coin in a official-looking cardboard sleeve so I believe that it probably wasn't meant to circulate.

 

The Bahamas silver 50c I have encountered in circulated grades on several occassions.

 

St. Helena - never seen those before! I better put the 50p on my watch list

Falklands - only seen the 1p and 20p - very nice to see the rest of the set.

I do actually have a much better looking Bahama Islands 50c & have 1c-25c on their way in the post, these all actually came from an uncirculated set, however I got them as you see them, whoever had them before hand obviously didn't look after them too well sadly. Thanks for the info regarding the $2, I believe back in the 70's there was less call for a circulating $2 coin, whereas 35-40 years on some countries have considered replacing the $5/£5 note with a coin (I know they've talked about it in the UK at least).

St Helena is as rare as Rocking Horse s*** not only in the UK but also on eBay, not much on there at all & I myself have only ever got two £1 coins in circulation, and that was about 2 years ago within a space of 6 weeks of each other oddly enough. The Falklands, I've only managed to stumble across £1 & 50p coins in circulation over here so not as rare St Helena but still particularly rare. Jersey, Guernsey & Isle Of Man pop up quite frequently over here, Alderney still seems to be reserved for collectable coins unfortunately.

Anyway, onto some more sets now....

Bahama Islands

EDITED:

A complete collection of coins from the Bahamas, labelled on these coins as the Bahama Islands, from 1c to $5. I believe 1c-$2 were indeed in general circulation but considering the size of the $5 I imagine this possibly could be a commemorative coin. Oddly enough the Bahama Islands had/has a 10c, 15c & 25c coin, I'll be honest I don't know why they had/have a 15c coin when they have a 10c & 25c coin. If anyone knows why please let me know

EDIT: I should point out that coins with Queen Elizabeth II's portrait are no longer minted as of 1974.

Commonwealth Of The Bahama Islands

As above but now from 1972 and with the legend "Commonwealth Of The Bahama Islands, two years later Queen Elizabeth II was removed from all Bahamas coins. The 1c coin has also been shrunk in size.

St Helena & Ascension Islands

EDITED: 21/6/2010 & 10/7/2010

Only four coins here from this rather remote Crown Dependency, I hope to have more coins to show you from this area very soon. The 10p again here is the old size as is the 50p. Of all Crown Dependencies that use the Pound, St Helena & The Ascension are the ones you are the least likely to come across.

A few more pictures:

Scans of the first uncirculated coins of St Helena & Ascension Island Pound from 1984 along with the drawings of the reverse side, interestingly enough the 20p wasn't introduced until 1998, some 16 years after it was introduced in the UK. The 5p & 10p changed design when the sizes were shrunk, however the design of the 50p remained the same. I should have some images of the more modern set up in the next few weeks

Current Series:

More or less bang up-to-date, all coins here from 1p-£2, as can be seen the designs for the 5p & 10p have been changed since the coins have been shrunk, however the 50p remains unchanged.

Falkland Islands

All designs here, except the £2 coin (hopefully to follow in the near future), currently illustrated is the old sized 5p & 10p, the small versions have not changed design. Bonus coin here for the 25th Anniversary of the liberation of the Falkland Islands

I thought I'd start this little thread for those of you who are interesting in collecting commonwealth coins, in particular those of Queen Elizabeth II. In this thread I will update as often & as necessary pictures of (as complete as possible) sets of coins currently or previously issued with the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II.

I shall write what has been added in this first post into a list & add a little description where possible. I should add however that I have excluded the UK coins from this thread as I'd imagine 85-95% of people on here know what they look like. Hopefully this will serve as a useful guide for those who want to collect coins of QEII, Anyway on we go:

2010-06-20 - Falkland Islands, St Helena & The Ascension, Bahama Islands

2010-06-21 - East Caribbean States & British Virgin Islands

2010-06-21 - (Second Update) - Additional pictures added to St Helena & Bahama Islands, pictures added for Belize, Bermuda, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Solomon Islands, Tristan Da Cunha & Tuvalu

2010-06-22 - Australia, Gibraltar, Mauritius, New Zealand, Nigeria, Rhodesia

2010-06-25 - Additional pictures added to Cook Islands, also added pictures for Jamaica & Jersey

2010-06-27 - Canada, The Gambia & the almost complete collection of the Isle Of Man added

2010-06-27 - (Second Update) - Additional images added to Isle Of Man (2000-2010) & New Zealand, also added pictures for Guernsey, East Africa, Malaya & North Borneo, Rhodesia & Nyasaland and South Africa

2010-06-27 - (Third Update) - Additional pictures added to Gibraltar.

2010-06-30 - Additional pictures added to Jersey, Rhodesia, Rhodesia & Nyasaland and Cook Islands also added pictures for UK & Ceylon

2010-07-03 - Additional pictures added to Australia, Canada, Tristan Da Cunha and the United Kingdom (all standard coins added to the UK now) also added pictures for Turks & Caicos Islands, Tokelau, Nightingale Island, Niue, Alderney & Seychelles

2010-07-10 - Additional pictures added to St Helena & The Ascension, Seychelles, Jersey, Niue & Jamaica, also added pictures for Fiji & the British Caribbean Territories (section & pictures added to the East Caribbean States section on page 1)

Got this one in the mail today. A 1942 25P note from Egypt. It's a small note, but I really like it.

 

Nice note The 30's & 40's have some superbly designed notes

Oddly enough the commemorative is more common that the standard design for 2004

At last I have found my first 2007 coin in circulation, the 5p. Although not an particulary interesting coin I'm glad to finally get a 2007 release seeing as this coin (along with the 1,2,10,20 & 50p) coins are to have new designs next year.

Image to follow, although i'm sure everyone knows what the current 5p coin looks like

thanks guys! i'll definitely be out of commission for a while as far as buying anything else goes. i was trying to make up for a year of not being able to buy anything, got carried away, and now it looks like i can't be buying much of anything for next year! heheh...this is my update for 2006 - 2008.

 

update round 2:

 

Antarctica

2007 $1, $3 (polymer plastic)

 

Finland

1986-Litt. A 10, 500, 1000 Markka

 

Germany, Federal Republic

1993 500, 1000 DM

 

Great Britain

2007 20 Pounds

 

Lithuania

1997-2000 100, 200, 500 Litu

 

Pakistan

2006 500, 1000, 5000 Rupees

 

Portugal

1987-1993 100, 500, 1000, 2000, 5000, 10000 Escudos

1996 5000, 10000 Escudos

 

Singapore

1976-1984 $5, $20, $50

1994 $50

 

 

more tomorrow!

You got a new £20 Welcome to the club you must be the first person not based in the UK to have one of these notes on here

Speaking of test notes, here's a Yahoo Group you all may be interested in that I just found, not sure if you guys are aware of it or not but here goes:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/testnote/

Indeed, Peter Symes has a whole treatise of them on his site:

 

Black Sheep Company of Wales

 

BTW, look at the rest of his site. It can be addictive, and you may have to come back to it. He has written a number of books, many of which are for sale on his site also - especially on British banknotes.

Great link

But someone in Wales indeed did issue banknotes beginning in the late 1960's:

 

 

I had whole sets of them at one time, and then gave them to my brother. Now they go for ridiculous prices on eBay.

Interesting do you or anyone else have any history on these at all, I have never heard of them

excellent notes! i especially like the reverse of that c-note. it's notes like these that are getting me to focus my collection a lot more to the u.s. side as opposed to the rest of world. i'm slowly crossing over...maybe temporarily, maybe not.

 

as for display recommendations, i've been using fotki.com. i found it several years ago and liked it so much i decided to upgrade my free account to a paid one. it lets me show public photo galleries, password-protected galleries, and hidden private galleries. with unlimited account space, i loaded my entire collection to the public area and use my private area to host pictures for use other websites...like my avatar and signature bar. they also just added a new feature allowing for video.

http://public.fotki.com/sanmiguel/world_banknotes/

 

another popular site i've seen in use is flickr. i've never used them, so i can't really comment on their features. but from what i've seen....it looks pretty snazzy!

http://flickr.com/photos/tiffibunny/sets/72157594222116556/

 

also, there's always good ol' banknote bank!

http://www.banknotebank.com/user_view.aspx?id=UkrainaDvi

Great fotki collection My favourite private issue has to be the Welsh banknotes. Shame Wales don't issue their own banknotes like Scotland & Northern Ireland

maybe it's his keyboard/computer. u.s. keyboards are defaulted to show the '$' symbol, korean pc's show the won,and japanese show the yen. makes sense that a british one shows the pound.

 

to use a different symbol than the default, you'd have to look up the code, like alt + 0163. sometimes i get lazy and just write out 'pounds' or 'euro' rather than look up the code.

When I was writing it I kept thinking to myself press the "$" not the "£"

Amended now

Here are my latest purchases in the last 7 days:

Isle Of Man £1

Jersey £1

USA $2

And a note I've been after for a while

Series D £10

Interesting $100 note, never seen one with a side portrait before

yeah, you can't really compare the two. error notes are usually missprinted legal banknotes that sometimes escape scrutiny and quality control checks and make their way to the public/collectors.

 

a $100,000 banknote is u.s. government property, and has no business being in the hands of somebody not working in the u.s.treasury/federal reserve bank. there's no such thing as accidentally misplacing one of these. if it's out, somebody stole it with intention.

Fair enough, I keep forgetting it's high value & the fact in the UK the highest we have in circulation is a £50 note, although apparently £1,000,000 notes exist (for internal reasons obviously)