2 Reales – Barbados

In 1791, Barbados operated within a complex colonial currency system dominated by the Spanish dollar and British sterling. Officially, the island used pounds, shillings, and pence, but the actual circulating medium was a confusing mix of physical coins from Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain, alongside a heavy reliance on book credit and promissory notes. The British government consistently failed to supply sufficient official coinage, forcing the colony to legally recognize foreign coins, particularly the Spanish dollar, at fixed rates set by local proclamation. This created a de facto dual system where accounts were kept in sterling, but transactions were often conducted in foreign silver.

The local economy was strained by a chronic shortage of specie (coin), exacerbated by Barbados's negative balance of trade with North America and Britain. Wealth was overwhelmingly tied up in the island's sugar plantations and the enslaved Africans who worked them, leaving little liquid capital for daily commerce. To facilitate trade, planters and merchants relied extensively on long chains of credit, with crop proceeds often taking over a year to settle debts in London. This cash-poor environment made business cumbersome and highlighted the island's economic vulnerability, despite its established sugar wealth.

Furthermore, the fixed proclamation rates often failed to reflect the true market value or weight of the assorted foreign coins, leading to disputes and inefficiency. The situation was a point of contention with the British government, which viewed the colonies' use of foreign currency as a problem but offered no practical alternative. Thus, in 1791, Barbados's currency was a fragile and improvised patchwork, reflecting both the global nature of Atlantic trade and the specific constraints of a plantation society dependent on a single export and the brutal institution of slavery.