Cayman Islands Coins

The Cayman Islands put their reefs on their money. Every denomination in the circulating series carries a different piece of the islands' natural world — a Grand Cayman thrush, a crayfish, a green sea turtle, a schooner under sail — designed by Stuart Devlin, the same sculptor who created Australia's celebrated decimal wildlife series. The connection is not accidental. Devlin brought the same philosophy to the Caribbean that he applied in Canberra: animals in natural posture, rendered with the precision of a naturalist and the eye of a sculptor.
 
The Cayman Islands dollar was introduced in 1972, replacing the Jamaican dollar after the Caymans chose to remain a British territory rather than follow Jamaica to full independence. The currency is pegged to the US dollar at a fixed rate that makes the Cayman dollar one of the highest-valued currency units in the world. The coins have been struck at mints from the Royal Mint in Wales to facilities across North America, and the designs have remained remarkably consistent across material changes from copper-nickel to nickel-plated steel.
 
As a British Overseas Territory, every Cayman Islands coin carries the portrait of the reigning monarch — Elizabeth II through multiple sculptors' renderings, and now Charles III. The obverse changes with the Crown. The reverse stays with the reef. The wildlife on these coins is endemic, specific, and deliberately chosen to represent a place that defines itself by its relationship to the sea.