I'm taking a week long trip to a resort in the Dominican Republic next week, and I was wondering if anyone has had any numismatic experiences down there... I know I'm going to run into a lot of the typical "pirate dubloons" and other such tourist trap nonsense, but there has to be a a legitimate store or "back room" somewhere where I could possibly find some nice coins. I'm recently picked up a couple of books, "Silver Dollars of North and South America" and "The Coinage of the Dominican Republic" (more of a pamphlet really), and I plan on photocopying the Dominican entries from all my Krause catalogs, to take with me. Anyone care to offer any advice or suggestions?
Can't help you, but I'm going to Santo Domingo for a week next month, and I'll be verrrrrrry interested to hear what you find.
I doubt I'll get much of an opportunity to visit one of the larger cities like Santo Domingo while I'm there since our resort is on the far east coast of the island, but you never know. The girlfriend barely puts up with my treasure hunting at home, let alone when we're on vacation and supposed to be relaxing and having fun... let me rephrase that... fun as a COUPLE. lol I'll let you know if I find out anything. Oh, and I'm sure you know this already, but the crime rate is nasty outside the resorts so be careful.
I don't think you will find anything in the resort areas. Those in DR are a bit isolated from the towns where business really goes on. Probably your best shot is in Santo Domingo. There are plenty of tourist things to see there, so you might swing a day or two and then include the following, which I have not seen but it would be a good place to start: http://www.bancentral.gov.do/english/museum.asp They may have info there to help you find out about possibilities of buying coins. Just be really careful about going into likely stores and asking. There is a perception in many places that if you are looking to buy old coins, you are made of money and therefore become a target for robbery.
Bah! Came home with nothing... As suspected, there's nothing at all interesting in Punta Cana. Santo Domingo was a 3.5 hour ride away (and was not in the cards this trip) and the only coins I DID find were in tourist trap sets, both modern and WELL circulated. On the plus side, I did get to swim with dolphins.
Welcome home. As I write this I am less than 12 hours from boarding a plane for Santo Domingo. The resort we are going to is on the south coast, not too far from SD. Sure hope I have better coin luck.
