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a minimum amount in which it is prepared to deal with the public as regards issues or redemptions. If the potential profits are sufficiently large these minimum amounts are unlikely to present a serious obstacle to a determined dealer, and there could be

additional costs for the issuing authority in policing the

operation. Raising the limits would damage confidence and

credibility. Although the legal tender provisions of the

currency legislation in all the dependencies place an upper limit on the value at which coins may be passed as legal tender to discharge a particular obligation, the legal tender aspect is distinct from the redemption right. An issuing authority could

not equitably refuse to accept large quantities of coins from,

say, banks and traders who may legitimately accumulate stocks

through the normal course of business. Once again, ultimately, liability for the coins remains with the issuing authority.

Exchange controls might be used to block redemption proceeds

and thus to discourage in advance any attempt to redeem. This

would be hard to justify not only as regards non-resident holders

in particular, but also as regards all holders who believe

themselves entitled under the legislation to the conversion of their coins into the specified foreign currency.

(11) Stop the issue of specimen coins. All the redemptions

experienced by the territories for which we have data have been

confined to specimen coins. Apparently no proof versions have yet been redeemed. This undoubtedly reflects the pricing

mechanism (as explained in Section 8.7). Under present conditions it would be reasonable to expect fewer redemptions

from future issues if the specimen version were discontinued.

However, such a measure might well lead to concern among serious collectors who contest the validity, for numismatic purposes, of proof coins not supported by similar coins available at face value in the country of origin. They might prefer to

concentrate their attention on countries which continue to meet

this criterion.

(12) More stringent control by HMG. At present all coin issues in

the Cayman Islands, the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar require

HMG's approval of both design and denomination. In other

dependencies specific approval is not required unless it is

proposed to use the effigy of a member of the Royal Family or