Dark addition to my US trade dollar collection

shirohniichan

Does anyone know why I consider this an important adjunct of my US trade dollar and Japanese coin collections?

satootoko

The only reason I can think of is that it is the same weight and fineness, and performed the same function in Asian trade.

cosmicdebris

Where are the chop marks?

shirohniichan

No chopmarks on this one!

Let me give some background.

Hong Kong dollars like this one were struck from 1866 to 1868 at the Hong Kong Mint to address the great demand for silver crowns in trade. Chinese merchants favored Mexican 8 reales coins, especially "Pillar Dollars" and subsequently Carolus 8 reales, to the extent that the coins demanded a premium over other coins with the similar weight and fineness of silver (other Spanish colonial coins circulated, but Mexican 8 reales dominated the market). Authorities in Hong Kong struck the Hong Kong dollar and itended them to trade at par with the Mexican coins.

shirohniichan

OK-- time up. I can see that this thread generated a lot of excitement (especially since three of the six posts are mine).

This coin is important to me for the following reasons:

1) This is the first coin made especially for trade in Asia. Many Mexican 8 reales coins were exported to China in trade, but they were used domestically as well. The Japanese trade dollars, French Indo-Chinese piastres du commerce, British trade dollars, etc. all followed in its wake.

2) The machinery used to strike this coin was subsequently bought by the Japanese government to modernize their mints. The first modern Meiji coins were struck from the same presses (who knows-- the press used to coin this dollar may have struck Meiji 8 one yen coins).

3) The reverse design set the pattern for British trade dollars (misleadingly called "Hong Kong dollars" on eBay and elsewhere) and Straits Settlements dollars.

4) It is tied with the Japanese trade dollar for the shortest trade dollar series.

5) It paved the way for the US trade dollar by failing to supplant the Mexican 8 reales.

XpipedreamR

Thanks for the info

sumnom

I really like the way you approach collecting, Shiroh. It is also the case with me that much of my collecting interests are guided by my historical interests. The historical contexts in which coins are produced and circulated is almost as interesting as the difference between MS-66 and MS-67 or issues of breaking coins out and resubmitting them to grading companies!

rhound1977

Shiro,

Great addition and great bit of history. I would think a collection of the world's trade dollars would be a neat set to put together, I have the US trade, GB trade, and I think something
similar from the Straights Settlements, but that is all....

Glenn