One thing that I'm interested in is coins from countries that only issued a few different coins. Either they issued one coin and then not another for a century or two or they issued one or two coins once or twice and that was it. A lot of times this happens in small, lightly populated islands or obscure colonies. Here are some in my collection. 1788 Barbados 1 penny. No other coins issued until the 1970s. 1793 Bermuda 1 penny. Same as Barbados. No other coins until 1970s. 1821 St. Helena and Ascension half penny. No other coins until late 1900s. 1836 Antigua farthing. As far as I know no other circulating coins were ever made specifically for this island. 1852 Madeira 10 reis. Very few coins made for this little Portuguese island. 1890 Eritrea 1 lire. Only a few different coins issued in 1890s under Italian occupation. One more issued in 1918 and then nothing until 1990s. 1894 German New Guinea 1 and 10 pfennig. Germany issued one coin set for this year and never again. Other New Guinea coins come in 1930s under British control. 1896 Puerto Rico 5 and 10 centavos. Only one series of coins issued by Spanish authorities in 1890s. All other coins for Puerto Rico were countermarked coins from other nations.
Here's my second page. I know there are others I'm not thinking of or that I don't have pictures of right now. Biafra comes to mind, which only issued one series of coins in 1961 I believe. What do you have that fits this category? 1887 Brunei 1 cent. Last coin issued until 1970s. 1897 Martinique 50 cents, 1922 1 franc. Very few coins ever issued for this little French Caribbean island. These are silly expensive now. 1903 Guadeloupe 50 cents and 1 franc. Same as the Martinique coins. My 1 franc looks like crap but getting a better example is cost prohibitive. 1909 Kiautschou 5 cents. Only two coins were issued for this forgotten German colony in China. 1910 Liechtenstein 1 krone. This country issued coins for a few different dates in the early 1900s but most are gold. You don't see these too often. 1937 Euzkadi 2 pesetas. This was issued by a breakaway region during the Spanish Civil War. Sadly Euzkadi was not able to maintain independence and its coins were never heard from again. 1961 Katanga 5 francs. Another wannabe country whose dreams of independence did not pan out.
I can't believe I almost forgot St. Pierre and Miquelon. This is a small island group near Canada that for some reason is still controlled by France. France issued this two coin set in 1948, when it was issuing coins for a lot of its often numismatically neglected colonies, and never again.
Very interesting collection. That took a lot of research. An example from Hawaii would be a nice addition if they were not so expensive.
I just ordered one of these today. I happened to notice it in the Krause while I was looking up info for this post.
Here are a few more. 1791 Sierra Leone 1 penny. According to Krause there was an 1814 penny and after that nothing until 1964. 1882 Zanzibar 1 pysa. A few different coins were issued in the late 1800s and then I believe it became part of the British East Africa colony. 1888 Mombasa 1 pice. Similar story, a few coins issued from 1888-1890 and then it joined East Africa. 1891 Comoros 10 centimes. A 5 and 10 centimes were made for this year along with a 5 francs. No coins were seen again until 1964.
How about Prince Edward Island? Though there were several tokens in the 19th century, the sole official coinage was the 1871 1 cent:
Very cool selections! My only contribution is Hawaii, which you showed already (although this is a half dollar).
Bought it for 50 cents from a junk bin. I bought it because I didn't know what it was. Took me a long time to figure it out.
That's the best. One of the Guadeloupe 50 centimes I posted here I got on eBay for less than a dollar. I couldn't believe it.
This may not quite fit the original criteria because there were a number of coins issued between 1808 and 1812. The Kingdom of Westphalia was set up by Napoleon for his youngest brother, Jerome (Hieronymus in German) Napoleon to have a kingdom. It was not geographically the same as the German state of Westphalia, and could have been more accurately called Eastphalia. It was dissolved when Napoleon was defeated. Note the heavy die-clash on this one, so that CENT. shows clearly on the obverse. There is also on the obverse a distinct, although distorted, of what appears to be the privy mark from the reverse, but I can't figure how it could have got there. It is not incus, so not a die clash. (A footnote: Jerome's American grandson served under Theodore Roosevelt as Attorney General and founded what would become the FBI)
Bahamas has the 1806 “Bahama” penny which is one I’ve been trying to find for a while in a decent grade and price. I believe they picked up coins again in 1966.