Ok, the Franklin Mint rode into the numismatic fray in the mid to later '60s as many know. They were around striking coins for different nations for just under 20 years (with a few odd duck outliers "issued" by them for another few). There were transitions to these coins in that they took up already issued types by the Royal Mint and began sets. Such is the case with the Bahamas where the new Franklin Mint (FM) coins were initially released in 1970 with no monogram/mintmark. By the next year Bahamian coins of like design and denomination were struck with the FM logo. Below are examples of the dollar coin reverses from 1970 and 1971 with the new mintmark just below the bottom of the ?seaweed? wreath near the edge at 6 o'clock Interestingly as I had shown before, many series were handed back to the Royal Mint after 1985 and with a couple of the Cayman Islands actually retained the FM mintmark although being struck at the Royal Mint. If you will note, the details of the 1970 coin are in much less relief on this uncirculated specimen coin than on the 1971 and almost look as though the 1970 dies came from the RM. None of my 1970 coins of any denomination have the mintmark.
One curiosity I've come across is the 1 cent from this year. You have the typical Franklin Mint uncirculated and proof finishes: However, I've also come across some coins that look as though they may be circulation coins minted by the Royal Mint. Images from ucoin user npk: There are a few other examples on the date's uCoin page, including a circulated one. These coins appear to be a little bit more brass in color than the FM coins, have a more vibrant luster, and as is typical of Royal Mint issues of the period, tons of bagmarks. I haven't managed to find one of these coins to view it in hand. In theory, it should be somewhat easy to find, with a listed mintage of 125,000 (note that 25,000 of these are probably the FM set coins). It is one of only 6 coins I believe I need to have a complete circulation date set from 1966 to date for the Bahamas.
Wow, very impressive. Yes, I do believe that there were currency issues struck by the Royal Mint at the same time - even though both were without mintmark in 1970. Are you saying you have currency issues for all denominations? If so, I have some questions you might be able to answer... I have noticed that there is some color variation in the FM bronze coins however....
I saw your post about the $1s and $2s in the Solomon Islands thread. The only cu-ni uncirculated coins that I'm confident exist are the 89 and 92 $1. I don't believe there are any cu-ni $2s with the traditional flamingo design of any finish after the 81-FM proof.
I have seen the 1996 $1 in set form. Supposedly there is a 1991 set with $1 and possibly $2??? BY set, I mean unc. set and not proof. Addendum: I believe the $1 conch may in CuNi may have been included in the 1998 proof set by the Royal Mint.
I've never seen a 91 or 96 set. I've seen loose 91 $2s, but these are apparently silver. I've also seen mention of 2000 15c, 50c, and $1, presumably from a set (the other 4 denominations were made for circulation and are all common), but I've never found any evidence of a set or those 3 coins actually existing. You're right on the 1998 set. I find it funny that these coins aren't listed in Krause, nor in the popular online catalogs. They have a better paper trail than the other sets we've talked about, since they're mentioned on the Central Bank's website. I'll have to add them to Numista sometime.
The 2000 is a simple conch, not the millennial "crazy conch" piece? Was some trick getting the '98, the '96 not as hard. Not sure the '89 $2 in Unc. CuNi exists either, only seen the proof in sets and singly. Have you seen matte FM 1975 $1 or $2? Some matte '75 FM coins listed in Krause may be questionable, at least for other countries. I will try to post color variance in the FM 1c series if that is of any help. I have tried to go to the RM with questions before but they never did answer them & gave up after failed emails, Facebook, etc. attempted contacts.
As far as I know, it's the regular design. Is the '96 a full set or just the $1? I don't think it does either. Now that you mention it, no I haven't. The only 75 matte I've seen was this 1c I found in a lot of circulated coins: I've never attempted to contact them myself but this is par for the course based on what I've heard from others.
I will separately post this, but I have the 1991 One Dollar in Unc. (it was a crazy story getting this one) :
