Another Discovery Coin: Barbados "Dolphins" 1984 $10 In Uncirculated

I was able to find a few rarities in the last year and have not seen published the (U) Specimen uncirculated 1984 Barbados Ten Dollars coin. This is listed in Krause, but in (M) with no value. A decent simple design that is fairly scarce to rare even in proof sterling silver.
To the best of my knowledge FM did not strike (M) matte uncirculated coins after 1977, and certainly haven't seen any. I did the previous year locate an (U) unc. Barbados 5 Dollars.

 

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And here is the proof in silver:

 

I think the Matte listing is a typo by Krause.

 

Yes indeed. I think that nobody has seen this coin, or at least reported on it. Franklin Mint made matte uncs through 1977, and after that the (U) Prooflike types. There has been a Papua New Guinea 1978 10K listed on eBay as (M) but it is not.

I have been following Franklin Mint issues, particularly the Legal Tender pieces, since the 1970s and have never seen any post-1977 mattes. If anyone should find one, please PM me or post a picture.

 

Did FM mint the Barbados $10 in 1991?

Pic from the 'net.

 

You know, good point, I really don't know and had assumed them done elsewhere under contract? I had thought operation shut down in 1986 or so as far as actually minting (vs. assembly of sets, etc.) but then saw a Liberia $100 gold of 1992 date with the FM monogram that looked suspiciously like their bits of the early '80s.
iPen, do you know more about the origin of this and its sister coins from Jamaica and Bahamas?

 

I don't know too much more - I just collect some FM world coins and sometimes found their strike type info confusing.

 

Excellent. Glad there is someone else out there! It is a bit confusing, but that sometimes increases the intrigue of collecting them.

 

I also have found a 1984 FM Barbados 10 Dollars Three Dolphins Left that is not the proof and appears to be Copper-Nickel as opposed to the Sterling that the catalog lists.

 

What do we know about mintage and value?

 

Very nice! No mintages apparently available. My guess is that it could have been 20 or so, but likely not more. I have no basis for this other than some of the Jamaica unc. 10 dollars in matte from 1975-77 are in the 27-30 range. It may actually be less though. Value??? You guess, but to a collector of such I would have to guess above 250 USD, and maybe 500. RMWorld coins has similar coins from Panama that they ask up to 2k for - this may be optimistic or reflect greater collecting of Panama.

 

Hello, I’m here looking for some information. I own bullion for diversification, but don’t know much about collecting coins.

I have a set of 1984 Barbados coins. It’s in a blue case and marked as a Proof Set, struck by the Franklin Mint.

I can send a picture, if you’d like. I received this as a child. My grandfather was born in Barbados.

The coins have a matte-like finish and are silver in color, outside of the penny/nickel.

It’s not what I’d expect from a “shiny” proof set, but I know that the 1984 Barbados coins are somewhat rare.

Thank you.

 

Hi
Well, I don’t have the specimen set of uncirculated coins - but will shortly post pictures of my own 1984 Barbados proof set for you. Are you able to post pictures?

If you will note at the top of this thread are posted examples of the uncirculated and proof Barbados 1984 10 Dollars.

Also the Franklin Mint was occasionally known to work "outside the box" and did some odd things on occasion so pictures from you are the best. One example is that I have a Franklin Mint 1983 Panama Proof set that has all the writing on the box and certificate in Spanish. They also did some very rare patterns, so will look with interest at what you might be able to show.

 

View attachment 1164797 View attachment 1164798 View attachment 1164799

 

The full paperwork:

 

Mintage is not recorded in any source and not in sets - probably 20-30 pcs is best guess. Post pictures please!

 

the state of conservation of the coin is not optimal. it has certainly been in contact with other coins. I'm in Italy and that's where I found it. I don't know how to post the photo. I should email it

 

Ah, didn't post - picture did not come out. Where did you find your coin, and does it have bag marks as though it had been in with other coins or does it look like it has been part of a set in a protected case/environment?

 

the state of conservation of the coin is not optimal. it has certainly been in contact with other coins. I'm in Italy and that's where I found it. I don't know how to post the photo. I should email it