Gold Ounce 2018 Rum Runner, Coin from Antigua and Barbuda - detailed information

Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign island country in the Caribbean which uses the Eastern Caribbean Dollar (EC$) as its currency; it is the common currency of six independent states and two British Overseas Territories. The EC$ has both common and national issues. All common circulating coins are issued under the authority of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and have no issuing country specified on them. Separately, each member country can also strike coins bearing its national symbols; these coins are legal tender in all members states, and are usually commemorative or bullion not intended for general circulation. Most of the member states are also members of the (British) Commonwealth of Nations and share the same monarch with the United Kingdom, so that the effigy of the monarch is displayed on the coins and banknotes of the currency.

Antigua and Barbuda has authorised some foreign mints to strike coins under its issuing authority for collector's purposes. Some of these are in popular bullion formats, such as one troy ounce (1 oz) of gold.

This coin is part of the first edition of the Eastern Caribbean 8 (EC8) series of premium bullion coins by the Scottsdale Mint, which has a new annual design for each country of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The 2018 edition for Antigua and Barbuda features the "Rum Runner".

The Mint says about it:
Throughout the Caribbean's colonial period, competition for rum sales and for the security that armed ships brought with them was fierce among the English Caribbean planters. The Caribbean island governors supported selling rum to the Royal Navy in hopes of the move helping to keep the pirates of the Caribbean at bay. Pirates often made extra money running rum to heavily taxed colonies in North American and the West Indies. As early as the 16th century, the British government employed "Revenue Cutters", small lightweight single-sail vessels to stop the pirates and smugglers.