British Colonies (Dominica, Gibraltar, Martinique) holed Dollar
This rare type of British Colonial Dollar has a heart-shape cut out from a Peruvian 8-Reales 1753 coin. This particular dollar originated in Gibraltar and was present in Dominica and Martinique in the Caribbean in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Spanish silver pieces-of-eight were the standard currency in Dominica and East Caribbean. In Dominica various holes were cut out of them to create different values – before 1813 a “bit” was worth 9 pence and there were 11 bits to a holed dollar, 12 1/2 bits to an unholed dollar. The values then changed and finally in 1843 sterling became the official currency…
