Scottsdale Mint finally debuts its 2023 Eastern Caribbean 8 bullion programme with St. Lucia, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines

Launching back in 2018, Scottsdale Mint’s EC8 programme has become one of the most ambitious bullion ranges in production today. It’s composed of eight annual designs, one for each of the Caribbean island nations in the programme, and each design is available in four formats, those being one-ounce silver and gold bullion, and one-ounce coloured silver and gold proof.

They were generally released through the year, but Scottsdale spent time catching up on the 2022 issues in 2023, and we didn’t see any 2023 coins at all last year. However, they’re still coming, and the first pair of issues have now debuted. There are no changes to formats outside reduced mintages for the proof coins. The obverse is slightly different, with the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II replaced by an ECCB logo (East Caribbean Central Bank). Both should be available to order now, with bullion versions sold encapsulated, and proof variants boxed with a COA.

ST. LUCIA COAT-OF-ARMS

The first of the two new designs is issued for Saint Lucia, and features the national coat-of-arms, with the shield in the centre, flanked by Saint Lucia Parrots, commonly called Jacquot. The background field is custom to the coin, and a neat embellishment. Most of the EC8 countries have had a coat-of-arms coin now, so this design was kind of expected, They’re not the most adventurous looking coins, but they are packed with that national flavour, and this is probably the best of its type to date.

ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES HUMPBACK WHALE

The second offering is a Humpback Whale design, issued for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This is actually the second time this magnificent creature has appeared for this nation in this series, the first time in 2021. That was a more stylised piece of art, while this one, depicting a breaching whale, is done in a more naturalistic style.

A pretty piece, it works equally well in coloured or clean variants, with an interesting background field symbolising the sun. Very cool.

NEW 2023 COMMON OBVERSE

DENOMINATION COMPOSITION DIAMETER FINISH MINTAGE
$2 (East Caribbean) 31.1 g of 0.999 silver 38.6 mm Brilliant uncirculated 25,000
$2 (East Caribbean) 31.1 g of 0.999 silver 38.6 mm Proof 500
$10 (East Caribbean) 31.1 g of 0.9999 gold 38.6 mm Brilliant uncirculated 2,500
$10 (East Caribbean) 31.1 g of 0.9999 gold 38.6 mm Proof 100