The Tuvaluan Dollar is the currency of Tuvalu - a small nation in the Pacific Ocean. Tuvalu has never had banknotes of its own, and has been issuing coins since 1976; these circulate together with coins of the Australian Dollar, which is also legal tender in the country, and to which the Tuvaluan Dollar is pegged.
The Australian Perth Mint issues a large variety of non-circulating legal tender coins under the authority of Tuvalu. Some of these are in the silver ounce format (abbreviated as 1 oz). Strictly speaking, they are not bullion as they are priced at a premium and are targeted at collectors who appreciate them for their artistic merit and collectable value and not just for their precious metal content.
This coin is the second release in the pirate-themed Black Flag series of premium bullion coins, and features Black Bart and The Royal Fortune.
Bartholomew Roberts (1682 - 1722), born John Roberts, was a Welsh pirate and the most successful pirate of the Golden Age of Piracy (measured by vessels captured), taking over 400 prizes in his career. Roberts raided ships off the Americas and the West African coast between 1719 and 1722; he is also noted for creating his own Pirate Code, and adopting an early variant of the Skull and Crossbones flag. Roberts' infamy and success saw him become known as "The Great Pyrate" and eventually as "Black Bart", and made him a popular subject for writers of both fiction and non-fiction. To this day, Roberts continues to feature in novels, films and video games (such as Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag) as well as inspire fictional characters (such as the Dread Pirate Roberts).
He commanded several ships successively named The Royal Fortune. |