A tree rising from open palms and the call «GROW YOUR SAVINGS»: on this 2011 two-dollar coin the Eastern Caribbean central bank chose to feature neither a monarch nor a ship, but the idea of financial literacy.

The occasion was the tenth Financial Information Month, a regional education campaign the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has run since 2002 together with the governments of the currency union, financial and academic institutions, the media and community groups. The reverse reproduces the 2011 campaign logo: a tree growing from the palms of two hands among coins, completed by the legends «EASTERN CARIBBEAN STATES» and «TWO DOLLARS».

This is no souvenir but a circulating commemorative: in October 2011 it was delivered to commercial banks and became legal tender throughout the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. The obverse bears Elizabeth II in Ian Rank-Broadley’s portrait with the initials «IRB» and the legend «QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND».

There is no two-dollar coin in the regular Eastern Caribbean range, so this issue stands out in a country collection. Its tree design also opens the way into flora themes and into a collection of coins devoted to money, banking and saving.

Grade UNC: the coin never circulated, shows no wear and keeps its mint lustre, the best choice for an album when the coin itself was made for everyday payments.

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