100 Dollars Sailing Ships

This note belongs to the short-lived series of legal tender collector issues produced for several Eastern Caribbean states in the early 1980s, a period when newly independent governments were actively seeking revenue outside conventional tourism and tax receipts. Antigua and Barbuda had gained full independence from Britain only in November 1981, and this issue was timed — almost certainly deliberately — to coincide with that transition.

D'Estrehan's involvement links it to a small network of American designers producing prestige numismatic items for Caribbean sovereigns during this period. The .999 fine silver substrate with 23-karat gold foil application was a technically ambitious production choice that has caused long-term preservation problems: delamination at the foil edges is a documented issue across surviving examples.