Belize is situated in the north-eastern coast of Central America, along with its neighbors, Mexico and Guatemala. Belize gained its independence on September 21, 1981, and was the last British colony on the mainland of America.
The nation’s official currency, the Belize dollar, is divided into 100 cents. During the mid-19th century, British Honduras, as what Belize was formerly known, operated on the British sterling system. However, the silver crisis of 1873 prompted a shift to the gold standard, aligning its currency with the US dollar. In 1885, bronze 1 cent coins were introduced, followed by silver denominations in 1894, with designs similar to other British colonial coins.
In 1949, the British pound devaluation caused protests and a subsequent devaluation of the British Honduran dollar to 70 US cents. Cupro-nickel replaced silver in various denominations in the 1950s, and the 1 cent coin adopted a scalloped shape in 1956.
Harold Wilson's 1967 sterling devaluation affected Belize, leading to a devaluation of the British Honduran dollar to 60 US cents. The renaming of British Honduras to Belize in 1973 had no immediate impact on its currency. However, the country name on its coins was changed to “Belize”, but with the same basic designs as that of British Honduras. Coins minted by the Royal Mint featured Queen Elizabeth II. Coins struck by the Franklin Mint, on the other hand, depict the coat of arms of Belize and are generally for American collectors.
In 1978, Belize abandoned its link to the British pound, pegging its currency to the US dollar at BZ$2 = US$1. In 1981, upon gaining independence, Belize issued coins considered by collectors as the first official Belizean coins. These feature the nation’s first head of state, Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Tudor Crown. The queen’s effigy used on the coins of 1 - 50 cents was engraved by Cecil Thomas, while that of the 1-dollar coin was by Raphael Maklouf.
