Do you know the Cayman Islands? This territory of 264 square kilometres covers three islands and is located in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica and Yucatan. The islands were discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1503, but were not inhabited until the second half of the 17th century.

Columbus named them the Turtle Islands. They were renamed Cayman, the name of the marine crocodiles that had taken up residence there in 1530.

In 1670, following the Treaty of Madrid, the Cayman Islands and their neighbour Jamaica came under English control. The Cayman Islands remained part of Jamaica until 1962, after the dissolution of the West Indies.

The Cayman Islands are currently part of the British Overseas Territories, along with Gibraltar, Bermuda and 11 other territories.

As such, the Cayman Islands have their own currency known as the Cayman dollar. The Cayman dollar replaced the Jamaican dollar on the island in 1971. Caymanian banknotes and coins have been in circulation for some fifty years.

Its exchange rate is directly linked to that of the US dollar. It is worth 20% more than the US dollar. There are 4 types of coin: 1, 2, 5 and 25 cents. These coins have changed material.

From 1972 to 1992, the 1 cent coin was made of bronze and the other coins of cupronickel. Since then, coins have been made of bronze- or nickel-plated steel, depending on
their value. The first banknotes, in denominations of 1, 5, 10 and 25 dollars, were put into circulation in 1972. In 1974, a $40 note was added, which was issued for a short period in 1981. The following year, 1982, 100-dollar notes were added to the series. The range was completed in 1987 with 50-dollar notes. The first banknotes were printed by the CICA (Cayman Islands Currency
Board). Banknotes printed after 1997 are issued by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) founded in 1987.

Valuable banknotes?

Given their rarity, banknotes and coins have a value well in excess of their face value. Obviously, the most sought-after are those with the highest values, which are also the rarest.!

Want to see more Cayman Islands banknotes and coins? You’ll find them on Delcampe!

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Written by Héloïse

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2 comments

  1. Thank you Delcampé for bringing so many lovely items to my notice over the years…
    But I have noticed in the last year or two, that some people are jumping on the wagon of SCAN-SCAMMING… I have purchased over the last year, several items being sold – for example for the liner Lusitania (which I am putting together for an exhibition) – are scanned out of books and printed by the person wanting ‘extra pocket money’… THIS scanning is really frowned on in exhibiting, even for OPEN CLASS… it is classed as cheating !
    I noticed last week when I did a ‘deep search’ for a postcard that I would like to have, the seller stated it as a REPRINT… now THAT is good, it tells me that it is NOT an original postcard plus there was no photo of the reverse, which can be another sign it is a scan-scam… I’m quite capable of doing these scans myself – but I always hope that the ones I buy via Delcampé are the ‘real Macoy’; but since Christmas I’ve noticed more and more of these people, both Private AND Professionals, are selling this ‘make-believe-original-material’… I don’t mind paying for something that is ‘real’ but I object to something touted as from early 1910s and it is on GLOSSY photographic papers…
    One item I bought early last year, turned out when it arrived, to be the size of half an A4 page – then I saw the same ‘postcard’ from another dealer, so I bought that,but it too was slightly larger than a normal postcard… but I used that smaller card on the title page of an 8-page competition, and the larger one was on page 8, with small yellow pointers, pointing out the mistakes that Germany had made on that specific scene, and the pages in between pointing out the seven [7] ‘mistakes’ that Germany had made in their original postcard as soon as they sank the Lusitania… I received good points for that small exhibit…
    But this email is just to let you know that there are a LOT OF SCAMMERS out there on your website – Cavet Emptor – I think is the best way to put it… but I’ll still keep looking, even at the terribly overpriced materials, I just thank goodness none of them have started to reproduce stamps…
    My best to the entire Delcampé team, Sandy Johnston, New Zealand