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Jamaica coins at a US shop: those dollars are not our dollars
Jamaica decimalized in 1969. The Jamaican dollar is not pegged to the US dollar and has not been worth a US dollar in a long time. Circulating $1, $5, $10, and $20 coins are bulk world money unless they are silver commemoratives.
This is the tourist-drawer trap.
Jamaica’s coins say dollar. Bahamas and Bermuda dollars are pegged one-to-one with the US dollar. Jamaica’s is not. The Jamaican dollar floats. It has been worth a few US cents for years, not a dollar. A jar of Jamaica $10 coins is not ten US dollars each. It is a bulk world lot.
What you are looking at
Jamaica left pounds-shillings-pence in 1969. Modern circulating coins include the coat of arms and national heroes (Marcus Garvey is the one people recognize). $1, $5, $10, $20 pieces are nickel-brass and the like. Older sterling-era pennies and some silver commemoratives are a different pile.
Independence 1962. Decimal 1969. None of that makes a 2008 $10 coin a collector event. Old is not rare.
What a shop pays
Circulating Jamaica: bulk world, or a courtesy face-in-Jamaican-dollars converted at a real rate if the pile is tiny. Silver commemoratives: weigh. World coins. East Caribbean is the other “dollar” that is not 1:1 (EC$2.70 = US$1).
If the same envelope has Bahamas flamingos and Jamaica Garveys, that is two math problems. We will sort. Do not polish the brass.
Part of the coin and money library · visitors & collectors
Pre-decimal Jamaica
Before 1969 you will see pennies, halfpennies, and florins with the British monarch. Some silver. Those we treat like other Commonwealth silver, not like a 2010 $20 coin. Independence commemoratives in precious metal are the only modern pieces that usually beat bulk.
People also ask
Is a Jamaica $10 coin ten US dollars? No.
Why does it say dollar then? It is Jamaica’s unit. What a dollar is is about the US unit.
What about Jamaican gold commemoratives? Rare in a junk drawer. If it tests gold, that is a gold visit.