solomon islands coins

I have a few Solomon Islands coins but the catalogues list quite a few, some of which I have yet to prove the existence of. Does anyone have any of these in their collections? Solomon Islands coins dated 1977-1983 all exist with the FM mintmark but some of those years are meant to exist without the mintmark and those are the ones I'm interested in.

1c
1977 exists
1981 exists
1985 exists
1987 exists
1989
1996 exists
2005 exists
2010 exists

2c
1977 exists
1985 exists
1987 exists
1989
1996 exists
2005 exists
2006 exists

5c
1977 exists
1980
1981 exists
1985 exists
1987
1988 exists
1989
1993 exists
1996 exists
2005 exists

10c
1977 exists
1988 exists
1990 exists
1993 exists
1996 exists
2000 exists
2005 exists
2010 exists

20c
1977 exists
1978
1987
1989 exists
1993 exists
1995 exists
1996 seen photos
1997 exists
2000 exists
2005 exists
2008 exists
2010 exists

50c
1988 exists
1990 exists
1995 exists
1996 seen photos
1997 exists
2005 exists
2008 exists
2010 exists

 

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Maybe @7Jags knows something about this?

 

Looking at relative rarities for the types on Numista, I'm almost certain that the 1989 1 and 2 cents don't exist. The others that you're not sure of aren't as cut and dry but I'm somewhat doubtful that they exist as well.

 

Wow, Mr. T knows a lot more about the non-FM issues than I do. I have stayed primarily with the FM issues (except for Jamaica). I do love modern issues like this though.
I don't know of anybody else [in this hemisphere] that collects Solomon. I suspect survival of really nice specimens is rather poor in the home country.

 

Thanks, I thought as much. Not sure where they were all struck to check the records either (though up until 1985 I think it was the Royal Mint).

I agree - thankfully the things that turn up in junk boxes are generally not too bad, but it's tough because a junk box is where you have to look to find these coins.

 

This is the type of hunt that I relish as well! I am glad there are still some true numismatists out there that are not just flipping gold.
And I also have top drawer expensive coins, but like these just as much. Perhaps you could write some kind of article and post these as to your opinion of rarity and availability of all currency Solomon, even those you already have? Might pump up some interest overall - these things have a way of coming back to you in positive ways.
I very nearly got a large accumulation of early modern Guyana (sadly collector died) as some are incalculably rare in mint state just as are the Solomon coins.

 

As I collect modern circulating coins by date, I've often had quite the time figuring out whether some years were minted for circulation, minted for sets only, or even not minted at all! Sometimes figuring out the puzzle is as much fun as collecting the coins themselves.

 

Hm, I haven't payed much attention to the rarities - the 1977 and 2005 are all pretty common and the 2000 seem scarce. I also am yet to acquire a 1996 20c piece so it must be uncommon. Besides the 1996 20c piece they all seem to appear from time to time.

And it would be nice if the Royal Mint put out proper annual reports with everything they produced. As interesting as it is I'd like to know how close I am to completing the set.

 

As a bit of an update, the Royal Mint said they don't have a 1978 20c in their collection. I believe they struck all Solomon Islands coins until at least 1985 so I think it doesn't exist.

 

But you do have the FM version no doubt?

 

I do yes.
I strongly suspect that circulation coins were probably struck in 1978 but dated 1977 - Krause has made this mistake with Cook Islands coins (the non-Franklin Mint issues of 1975 don't exist - they 1974 coins struck in 1975).

 

Keep up with the detective work! I have been looking into the Royal Mint strikes of Bahamas $1 and $2 coins in the years 1989, 1991, 1992, 1996 - I am not at all sure that copper nickel uncirculated examples were struck of all these years (some for sure however) despite being listed in Krause and Schon.

 

I wanted to share this 1 cent I got today. Looking at the Numista relative rarities, it appears to be the least common known date of its type, with only the questionable-to-exist 1989 lower.

 

Nice. I haven't been able to find mintages for most of the coins of the Solomon Islands so it's hard to say what really is the rarest.
I think when I was trying to complete my 10c collection (I think I have all the circulating ones) the 2000 was the last one I got and it seemed to be the toughest.

 

If you ever do find a source for mintages, please do share if you are able.

 

Absolutely - I suspect that all the circulating coins were struck by the Royal Mint (some catalogues confirm this up to 1985, and the Solomon Islands Central Bank annual report of 2005 says it's the case for the 2005 too).
But of course the Royal Mint only publishes mintage of domestic coins, so that's of no help.

 

BTW, and this may be for a few readers only, but I am trying to find ANY evidence of any Post-1977 matte coins struck by the FM for ANY country (other the the somewhat satiny finish 1984FM Liberia 1c, 5c, 10c).
I believe that Krause has got this wrong. Are (M) matte coins listed for years AFTER 1977 in error? I have found no evidence of their existence. Schon is another catalogue I use for this era of coins but insists on lumping many modern issues together by type, including FM, and do not clearly separate the varied types such as (U), (M), or (P). This format of theirs makes it's usage somewhat problematic.

This relates to Solomons because Krause lists a 1978FM (M) matte format for the 5 Dollar denomination but I have had no confirmation of its existence.

A question then: what then of the numbers assigned to mintage of such coins? Was it simply an error in that they were actually (U) prooflike coins similar to those for the specimen sets of this year, or were they completely in error in that these coins may have been planned but not actually issued. These seeming errors have been propagated in Numista, Krause and others - I believe that these all were from figures that stemmed from information derived from the FM itself.

 

@TheGame squeeze those staples with pliers so they don't scratch nearby coins.

 

I took it out of the 2x2. That was how it came from the seller.

 

Hm, I just looked at the numbers for the Solomon Islands - 6,000 matte sets per year from 1977 to 1981 - pretty sure that's wrong? Every other set had declining mintages and it's way too coincidental that it's the same value for each year. Even for 1977, 6,000 matte sets would have exceeded the mintage of both other sets combined.
Partially related, do you know when mintage turned into a "we make as many sets as orders we got" arrangment? Maybe there was still interest in matte sets but there wasn't enough interest to go ahead and make them?