2809) A Half Crown (½) Coin, Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), A British Overseas Territory (BOT): The Coin was only issued in 1981 and was since demonetised in 1982:
The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and Northern West Indies.
They are known primarily for tourism and as an offshore financial centre. The resident population in April 2023 was about 60,000, making it the third largest of the British Overseas Territories (BOTs) by population.
The islands are southeast of Mayaguana in the Bahamas island chain and north of the island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic).
Grand Turk (Cockburn Town), the capital since 1766, is situated on Grand Turk Island about 1,042 kilometres (647 mi) east-southeast of Miami. They have a total land area of about 430 square kilometres (170 sq mi).
The islands were inhabited for centuries by indigenous peoples.
The first recorded European sighting of them was in 1512.
In subsequent centuries, they were claimed by several European powers, with the British Empire eventually gaining control.
For many years they were governed indirectly through Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Jamaica.
When the Bahamas gained independence in 1973, the islands received their own governor, and have remained an autonomous territory since.
Turks and Caicos Quarter Crown (½) Coin:
The Half (½) Crown Coin is a former circulation piece of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was issued in a single type along with a Half (½) Crown piece in 1981.
Both of these coins were distributed by the Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands and struck under commission at the Royal Mint, United Kingdom (UK).
The coin was initially legal tender on the Turks and Caicos Islands, circulating for a nominal value of Half (½) Crown, or 0.50 United States Dollars (USD), before its demonetisation in 1982.
Printed clockwise along the rim above is the English name of the issuing territory, "TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS".
Inscribed in the opposite direction along the periphery below is the face value "HALF CROWN", which is separated from the aforementioned legend by two small circular points.
Displayed in the center is an illustration of a young Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning British monarch at the time the coin was minted.
In this depiction, the queen is portrayed in her late thirties, facing right and wearing the George IV State Diadem on her head.
Accompanying the image is the caption "ELIZABETH II. D.G.REGINA", an abbreviation for the Latin - "Elizabeth II, Dei Gratia Regina", which translates to English as "Elizabeth II, By the Grace of God, Queen".
On the coin, this inscription is engraved clockwise from the lower left to lower right peripheries and is separated between the numeral and abbreviation "D.G." by Elizabeth's head.
Printed in the opposite direction along the rim below the queen's likeness is the Gregorian date of minting, "1981".
The total mintage of the coin is currently unknown. Only business strikes of this particular type are reported to exist.
The specifications of this Coin are:
Country: Turks and Caicos Islands (a British Overseas Territory - BOT); Year of Coin issue: 1981 (Demonetised in 1982); Denomination: Turks and Caicos Islands ½ Crown Coin (Half Crown); Coin Theme: "Salt Windmill; Metal Composition: Cupronickel (CuNi); Weight: 11.45 grams; Diameter/Size: 30.63 mm; Shape: Round; Alignment: Medallic; Edge: Milled; Thickness: 2.05 mm; Mint: Royal Mint, UK; Mintage: Unlimited; Designer: Arnold Machin (Obverse).
(The above Half Crown Coin has been gifted for my collection by Jayant Biswas. Coin scanned and Post researched and written by Rajeev Prasad)
About the Sea Salt Industry in the Turks and Caicos Islands:
THE TURKS AND CAICOS consists of many small low-lying islands, and every larger island in the archipelago has at least one natural saltwater pond or lagoon.
These ponds often have some connection to the ocean. In some cases this is by natural inlets or channels, others are replenished by abnormally high tides or subterranean cave systems.
As the trapped ocean water in these ponds evaporates in the typically hot Turks and Caicos climate, salt crystals naturally collect in places.
Salt exports from the Turks and Caicos began before recorded history. It’s known that the indigenous Taino pre-Columbian inhabitants would gather some of this naturally occurring salt and trade it with the inhabitants of Hispaniola for honey and fruit, and evidence also suggests that they may have also exported salted bonefish.
Later on, early European explorers would also stop by to collect salt.
The Turks and Caicos has many high salinity ponds, which can be found on nearly every major island in the archipelago.
However, not many of the ponds naturally produce large amounts of salt, as water inflow must be in balance with evaporation rates.
A notable productive natural salt pond is the Proggin Bay flat, which is in the Frenchman's Creek and Pigeon Pond Nature Reserve on Providenciales.
Evidence suggests that the natural salt ponds were quite valuable to the pre-Columbian Lucayan peoples that previously inhabited the Turks and Caicos, as major settlement sites have been located near such sites.
In previous centuries, salt was a very valuable commodity necessary for food preservation.
In the late 1600s, British colonists in Bermuda recognised the potential of the Turks and Caicos marine ponds for salt raking, and by the end of the century, they had begun to develop the natural ponds into salinas to increase output.
At the height of production at the beginning of the 1900s, total exports from the country reached nearly 2 million bushels (about 140 million pounds).
About 800 acres (324 hectares) of salina were being utilized across the three islands and over 80 miles (129 km) of dividing walls stood.
By this time, Grand Turk, South Caicos, and Salt Cay each had more or less every available pond developed, and expansion to West Caicos and possibly a pond on the southwest of Providenciales was being considered. However, it was not to happen.
The End of the Industry:
What ultimately doomed the salt industry in the country was the small-scale of production.
The islands in the Turks and Caicos are small, with a limited number of ponds that could be developed. Necessary infrastructure such as deep-water docks simply cost too much to build and maintain compared to the expected returns.
Other sites such as Lake Windsor on the nearby Bahamian island of Great Inagua, proved to be far more financially viable for salt production due to its much greater size. Morton Salt currently produces over a million tons of sea salt per year at this location.
Attempts were made in the mid-1900s to revive dying exports, yet these failed to be remotely profitable.
Presently, the only salt produced in the Turks and Caicos is for boutique purposes, and in very limited quantities. Some is gathered on coastlines or on one of the few natural salt flats found in the country, and the remainder is collected from small scale salinas.
Links to Posts on Turks and Caicos Islands:
Posts on Aruba on this blog:
Links to Posts on Curacao on this Blog:
18) Sea Motifs, Bahamas: Gold Bullion Coins in the denominations of 100 Dollars (depicting a Blue Marlin) and 250 Dollars (depicting a Conch Shell): Coins issue date: 03.12.2019
19) A new Generation $100 Polymer Banknote, Trinidad and Tobago with enhanced security features to "raise the bar" for counterfeiters & unscrupulous elements: Banknote circulation date: 09.12.2019:
20) Festival di Tumba (Carnival of Curacao), Curacao: "50th Edition of the Curacao Carnival/Festival" held from 27-31.01.2020: A set of six Commemorative Postage Stamps brought out by Cpost (Curacao Post) on 20.02.2020
21) New Polymer Banknotes, Trinidad and Tobago: The entire series will consist of $100, $50, $20, $10, $5 and $1 denominations: $100 has already been issued on 09.12.2019
23) "Caribbean Sea-Horse", Barbados: $10 (Ten Dollars) 1.0 Oz. Gold Bullion Coins & $1 (One Dollar) 1.0 Oz. Silver Bullion Coins minted by the Scottsdale Mint; Year of issue: 2020
24) Cayman Islands, A British Overseas Territory (BOT): A set of identically numbered Banknotes of the presently circulating Banknotes from the "D" Series of Banknotes
Links to some other interesting posts from South American countries & Mexico:
26) A new 100 Boliviano Banknote from Bolivia: issued by the "Banco Centrale de Bolivia" (Central Bank of Bolivia) on 15.01.2019 under its new 2018 Banknote Series
27) Central Bank of Uruguay ("Banco Centrale del Uruguay"): 50th Anniversary (Golden Jubilee) - 1967-2017 - celebrated with the issue of a 50 Peso Commemorative Banknote on 14.09.2018
Links to Posts on Curacao on this Blog:
Santosh Khanna has commented:
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DeleteRajan Trikha has commented:
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DeleteRaj Kumar Srivastava has commented:
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