Hong Kong 1867 Silver Half Dollar KM#8 good VF
We Last Sold This Item For: | $5,692.50 |
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Last Sold On: | 4/10/2019 |
# Sold In Past 12 Months: | 0 |
Hong Kong 1867 Silver Half Dollar KM#8 good VF
Ex Spink Auctions (Australia) November 1981 - Sale 6, Lot 1789.
Nett Price Paid: $700
Rich and deep patina evident both sides, this was a treasured inclusion in an old-time collection.
The British colonial masters of Hong Kong believed it was important that a local mint was established that could strike British dollars, the specifications of which would be equal to the weight and purity of the readily-accepted Mexican silver dollar.
Colonial regulations were passed that enabled the Mint's operations, and equipment valued at $71,500 was purchased in London. The Hong Kong Mint opened for business on May 7th 1866. In his book "A History of Currency in the British Colonies", Robert Chalmers advised that "...low exchanges and a mint charge of 2 per cent, resulted in its failure." Apparently, the coins were not accepted in trade on the Chinese mainland, unless they were discounted in value by 1%.
As a result, the colonial authorities decided to close the Hong Kong Mint after just 2 years of operation - the premises were vacated and the equipment was sold to the Japanese government.
Chalmers recounts that (ironically) Chinese traders accepted Hong Kong dollars at the same rate as Mexican dollars, and further that the smaller denominations struck by the Hong Kong Mint "were eagerly sought after at a substantial premium on their nominal value."
Chalmers states that the total number of each denomination struck were as follows:
Denomination | Number Struck |
One Dollar | 2,108,054 |
Half Dollar | 58,587 |
20 Cent Pieces | 445,429 |
10 Cent Pieces | 2,479,216 |
5 Cent Pieces | 1,313,303 |
As the above table illustrates, the half dollar was easily the rarest denomination struck by the Hong Kong Mint.
The exact mintage figure of the 1867 Hong Kong half dollar was not recorded, however is believed to be a small fraction of the 58,587 recorded as struck in 1866.
Fred Pridmore considered that the number struck may be as low as 1,500 coins, making this one of the rarest coins ever struck for Hong Kong.
This particular example has a deep and vivid patina across both sides. The lack of detail in the high points of the portrait is not entirely due to wear, some weakness can also be seen in the outer section of scrollwork between 6 and 9.
This remains a strong example of one of Hong Kong's rarest circulating coins.
SKU: 176617
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