The livre was the currency of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

until 1814. The Saint Lucia livre was a French colonial currency, distinguished by the use of various cut Spanish and Spanish colonial coins. The livre was subdivided into 20 ''

sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Sous River (''Asif n Sus''), separated from the Sahara desert ...

'', each of 12 '' deniers''. The ''escalin'' was worth 15 sous, with the ''stampee'' worth 3 sous 9 denier ( escalin). Until 1813, 12 escalins were equal to 8 reales (the

Spanish dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...

), after which 15 escalins equaled 8 reales. In 1851, sterling was introduced for circulation. Since the late 19th century, dollars have circulated on Saint Lucia, first the

Saint Lucia dollar The history of currency in the British colony of Saint Lucia closely follows that of the British Eastern Caribbean territories in general. Even though Queen Anne's proclamation of 1704 brought the gold standard to the West Indies, silver pieces of e ...

, then the

British West Indies dollar The British West Indies dollar (BWI$) was the currency of British Guiana and the Eastern Caribbean territories of the British West Indies from 1949 to 1965, when it was largely replaced by the East Caribbean dollar, and was one of the currencies us ...

, and currently the

East Caribbean dollar The Eastern Caribbean dollar (symbol: EC$; code: XCD) is the currency of all seven full members and one associate member of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The successor to the British West Indies dollar, it has existed sinc ...

Coins

In 1798, coins were issued for 2, 3, 4 and 6 escalins. These were made from sixths, quarters, thirds and halves of 8 reales coins, on to which the letters "SL" were counterstamped. The 1811 issue consisted of 3 stampee, 1, and 2 escalins coins. The first two were made from quarters and thirds of 2 reales coins, whilst the higher two denominations were made from quarters and thirds of 4 reales coins. The 3 stampees was counterstamped with a crenulated circle, whilst the 1, and 2 escalins were counterstamped with one, two and three circles, respectively. The final issue, from 1813, consisted of 3 and 9 escalins. These coins were produced by cutting 8 reales coins into three parts, with the two outer parts, each consisting of one fifth of the coin, making the 3 escalins and the central part, consisting three-fifths, making the 9 escalins. They were all counterstamped with "S:Lucie".

References

External links

Modern obsolete currencies Economy of Saint Lucia History of Saint Lucia 1814 disestablishments in North America Currencies of the Caribbean {{SaintLucia-stub