11/2 Bits Moco

Dominica's "moco" coinages were emergency issues produced by cutting and counterstamping Spanish colonial reales — the island's monetary administration had no mint of its own and chronic small-change shortages forced improvised solutions throughout the British Caribbean. The 1½ bits denomination is specific to Dominica's own valuation schedule, applied to a fragment worth a different amount under Spanish reckoning.

The island passed between French and British control repeatedly across the 18th century before Britain secured it by the Treaty of Paris in 1763. This piece was struck just as the plantation economy was expanding rapidly and coin shortages were most acute.