British West Indies Dollar - Banknotes

Banknotes

The first banknotes in the British West Indies were issued by private banks, including the Colonial Bank, Barclays Bank (which took over the Colonial Bank) and the Royal Bank of Canada. Issues were made at Antigua, Barbados, British Guiana, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad and Tobago. The main feature of interest about these banknotes was the fact that they displayed the dual accountancy system by stating the amount in both pounds sterling and in Spanish dollars at the automatic conversion rate of $1 = 4shillings and 2pence sterling. See for example,

• 1920 Trinidad and Tobago banknote (obverse)
• 1920 Trinidad and Tobago banknote (reverse)

There were also government issues for Barbados and British Guiana.

In 1950, the first issues made for all the participating colonies, in the name of the "British Caribbean Territories, Eastern Group". These were in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 100 dollars. These notes replaced all earlier issues in 1951. The 1950-1951 issues bore the portrait of King George VI, with those between 1953 and 1964 bearing that of Queen Elizabeth II.

In March 1965, the East Caribbean Currency Authority (ECCA) was founded following the withdrawal from the British Caribbean Currency Board of British Guiana and Trinidad and Tobago to establish their respective central banks.