When I arrived in Singapore in 1961, as a young boy, I was immediately captivated by the currency. Some of the coins were of a similar format to the British "silver" coins that I was familiar with. The 10c coin was like a sixpence, the 20c coin was like a shilling and the 50c coin was like a florin. There were differences too - the monarch wore a crown (unlike the British coins), and the value was embossed in large numbers surrounded by a beaded circle. The one cent coin was a square lozenge - something I had never seen.

The political changes in the 1960s, with the formation of Malaysia and Singapore, resulted in new currency being issued, but the familiar shapes, sizes and colours were continued for some years afterwards, resulting in a continuous tradition reaching back to the Straits Settlements coins of 1871. On a recent visit to Malaysia I was amazed to see the old coin formats still going strong.

This site presents a virtual coin collection. The internet has enable me to collect images of coins and notes, and these are presented here for your interest. Most images have been shamelessly downloaded from various web sites. If anyone sees images that are subject to copyright then let me know and I will remove them.

Contact me at TimLight99@hotmail.com