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Kalākaua coinage

May 08, 2024

The Kalākaua coinage is a set of silver coins of the Kingdom of Hawaii dated 1883, authorized to boost Hawaiian pride by giving the kingdom its own money. They were designed by Charles E. Barber, Chief Engraver of the United States Bureau of the Mint, and were struck at the San Francisco Mint. The issued coins are a dime (ten-cent piece), quarter dollar, half dollar, and dollar.

Kalākaua 1883 dime

No immediate action had been taken after the 1880 act authorizing coins, but King Kalākaua was interested and government officials saw a way to get out of a financial bind by getting coins issued in exchange for government bonds. Businessman Claus Spreckels was willing to make the arrangements with the United States in exchange for profits from the coin production, and contracted with the US Mint to have $1,000,000 worth of coins struck. Originally, a 121⁄2 cent piece was planned and a few specimens were struck, but it was scrapped in an effort to have uniformity between US and Hawaiian coins, and a dime was substituted. The coins were struck at San Francisco in 1883 and 1884, though all bear the earlier date.

The coins met a hostile reception from the business community in Honolulu, who feared inflation of the currency in a time of recession. After legal maneuvering, the government agreed to use over half of the coinage as backing for paper currency, which continued until better economic times began in 1885. After that, the coins were more eagerly accepted in circulation. They remained in the flow of commerce on the islands until withdrawn in 1903, after Hawaii had become a US territory.

Background edit

Further information: Hawaiian dollar and Coins of the Hawaiian dollar

Native Hawaiians before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1770 used no coins; trade in their agricultural economy was based on barter. Early relations between Hawaiians and explorers were also based on barter,[1] with nails, beads, and small pieces of iron sometimes being used as money,[2] but as more systematic foreign trade began at the turn of the 19th century, coins of many lands came to the islands as payment for exports. The arrival of the missionaries, and the plantations and other commercial activity that soon followed, led to the first currencies generated by the islands: tokens and scrip used to pay workers because of the chronic shortage of small change. The trade ties and cultural connections with the United States led the early Hawaii business community to think in terms of the US dollar, and it became the basis for trade, with the Hawaiian royal government periodically publishing tables of the value of non-US coins in terms of the dollar. This was necessary because such coins, brought to the islands by foreign trade, circulated as a means of exchange alongside American silver and gold pieces.[1]

In 1847, King Kamehameha III issued a one-cent coin, most likely struck by a firm in New England. It was unpopular with merchants, who preferred not to deal with such small amounts. Some were issued in change in government transactions, but only about 12,000 ever circulated. The failure caused the government to reconsider plans to issue more denominations of coins.[3]

By 1883, most coins on the islands were American, due to the close economic integration between islands and mainland. The laws of Hawaii reflected this, making gold American coins legal tender for an unlimited amount and American silver coins legal tender to $50.[4] In 1879, the kingdom issued its first currency notes, technically certificates of deposit, redeemable in silver coin and with denominations ranging from $10 to $500.[5]

At that time in Hawaii, gold coins brought a premium over their face value if purchased with silver; only gold could be used for certain transactions, such as paying customs duties. Silver had been heavily imported into the kingdom in the 1870s despite government efforts to slow the flow with taxes, and thus gold was more expensive there in terms of silver than in the United States, which was more stable monetarily. Any large influx of silver into circulation, such as by the Kalākaua coins, meant that silver in the hands of the public might become worth less in terms of gold. In 1883, Hawaii was in a recession, due in part to a fall in sugar prices because of overproduction.[6]

Preparation edit

 
Walter M. Gibson

Finance chair Walter M. Gibson, supported by Minister of the Interior Samuel G. Wilder, pushed a new currency law through the 1880 legislature.[7] It allowed the kingdom to purchase gold and silver bullion to be struck into new Hawaiian coins. Having the kingdom issue its own coins was one means by which the government hoped to improve Native Hawaiian morale, as their numbers and their influence had both been declining over the previous few decades.[4] The king became more interested in coinage bearing his likeness during his world tour of 1881. During this journey, he was contacted by the owner of a New Caledonia nickel mining company hoping to use the metal in coinage, and sample five-cent pieces were sent to the king after his return to Honolulu. They found little favor, possibly because Hawaii's motto was misspelled. No action was taken until 1882, when the king appointed Gibson to lead the government. He moved forward with the coin idea; the currency was to have the king's image on the obverse side, and Hawaii's coat of arms and motto Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono (The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness) on the reverse.[8] The 1880 law specified that the silver coins were to be in denominations of one dollar, fifty cents, twenty-five cents, and twelve and one-half cents.[9][10] Twelve and one-half cents, or one bit (one Spanish colonial real) was sometimes the day's pay for a laborer.[11]

A National Loan Act provided for $2 million in bonds, but due to its poor creditworthiness, the kingdom had been unable to sell them. Gibson hit upon the idea of combining the two acts by appointing businessman Claus Spreckels, a close friend of the king, as government agent to contract with the United States Mint to have coins struck there, and for Spreckels to be paid in government bonds. In March 1883, the cabinet council authorized Finance Minister John Mākini Kapena to make the arrangement with Spreckels, who received formal authority for this role in May. H.A.P. Carter, Hawaiian envoy in Washington, acted as intermediary between the Hawaiians and the US government, and wrote to Kapena in June that the US authorities regarded the agency arrangement as peculiar, since a more usual way of proceeding would have been for the Hawaiian government to contract directly, and to pay for the coins in cash.[9]

 
King Kalākaua

Spreckels was already in correspondence with American authorities; in January 1883, the Director of the United States Mint, Horatio Burchard, had written to him explaining the laws under which the Mint could strike coins for foreign governments, and that although the coins could be struck at the San Francisco Mint, the dies for the coinage would have to be prepared at Philadelphia. He asked for sketches from Spreckels, who provided an obverse showing a full-face portrait of the king; this was submitted to Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber in Philadelphia, who rejected it as impractical. Barber recommended the king be shown in profile, and a suitable photograph was sent to him for use in preparing models of the proposed coins. Once the Mint received Spreckels' commission as agent, Acting Director Robert E. Preston wrote noting that the authorization called for 121⁄2 cent pieces, but that the Hawaiian law had called for coins identical in size, weight, and fineness to US coins, and there was no such denomination struck by the US Mint. He asked if ten-cent pieces were desired instead, but no answer was immediately forthcoming, and Barber finished preliminary designs, including the 121⁄2 cent piece.[12]

Barber finished hubs for the four coins in September 1883, and Philadelphia Mint Superintendent A. Loudon Snowden had two sets struck and sent to Preston in Washington. Snowden praised the beauty of the coins, and was happy that Barber had required less relief than needed on US coins of like value, since this meant the coins would be easier for the Mint to strike. Preston sent the coins to Spreckels in San Francisco, and authorized Philadelphia to make additional sets, both for its coin cabinet and for the director's office in Washington. Barber was instructed to make five sets of coining dies for each denomination, to be sent to the San Francisco Mint, with instructions that no coins were to be struck pending a final contract with Spreckels, and that the dies were to remain Hawaiian government property, to be turned over on request.[13]

The formal contract was dated October 29, signed by Spreckels as agent for Hawaii, and by San Francisco Mint Superintendent E. F. Burton. It provided for $1,000,000 in coins: $500,000 in silver dollars, $300,000 in half dollars, $125,000 in quarter dollars and $75,000 in dimes. The Hawaiian government made the change from 121⁄2 cent pieces to dimes because it was negotiating a monetary convention with the United States and wanted its coins to conform to America's, though this convention never went into force. By mid-November the change had been noticed by the Mint, and Spreckels sent confirmation and a go-ahead to make dies for the dime, on the understanding that a revised authorization would be needed from Honolulu before production of dimes could begin. This was received in December. By this time, the kingdom's order was already in production, having started with a run of half dollars in November. Barber did not complete work on hubs for the dime until January 1884, and dies were not dispatched to San Francisco until February, though they are dated 1883. Once he had received the dies for the ten-cent coin, Burton sent the unneeded dies for the 121⁄2 cent piece to the director's office in Washington.[14]

Spreckels supplied the bullion for the coins, at a cost of about $850,000. He paid $17,500 as the Mint's fee for striking the coins, $2,500 for designs, and $250 for dies. A final change reduced the total value in dimes to $25,000 (250,000 coins) while increasing the value in half dollars to $350,000 (700,000 coins).[15]

Design edit

 
Kalākaua 1883 one-dollar coin

Both sides of each coin were designed by Charles E. Barber.[16] The obverse displays a naked bust of Kalākaua. He is surrounded by his name and title; the date appears beneath. W. T. R. Marvin, writing in 1883 for the American Journal of Numismatics, said he had been told by those who had seen the coins that "the profile head of the King compares favorably with that of many rulers of much more important countries".[17] Ernest Andrade, who chronicled the controversy caused by the coins, wrote that they bore Kalākaua's profile, "admittedly a handsome one".[18]

 
Half-dollar coin adapted as the seal of the Hawaiian consul in Suva, Fiji. In the Fiji Museum.

The dollar, half dollar and quarter dollar bear the royal arms, set forth most fully on the dollar, where the shield is emblazoned on a mantle, possibly ermine. Marvin suggested the famous feather cloak worn by Kamehameha the Great as a more appropriate choice than the fur to bear the arms.[19] Below the shield on the dollar is suspended the Star of the Order of Kamehameha, and above it is the royal crown.[20] Around the coin is Hawaii's motto, words spoken by Kamehameha following a time of distress.[19] To either side is 1 and D.; below is the denomination of one dollar rendered in Hawaiian, AKAHI DALA. Dala became the Hawaiian term for dollar in missionary times as words changed to conform to the smaller Hawaiian alphabet. Dollar is rendered "dala" in speech in many parts of Asia and the Pacific.[21]

The reverses of the half dollar and quarter dollar bear the arms without the mantle and order, encircled by the motto, with the denomination expressed respectively as HAPALUA meaning half dollar, and HAPAHA, quarter dollar. Each of the two coins pairs its fraction with the D., on either side of the shield. The 121⁄2 cent piece, known today only by a few proof pieces, bears a wreath with a crown separating its branches, and with the motto surrounding. The denomination is within the wreath, expressed as HAPAWALA. That design was adapted for the dime, with the denomination within the wreath expressed as UMI KENETA, and below the wreath ONE DIME, both meaning ten cents.[17][22]

Distribution and controversy edit

 
Sanford B. Dole

The first shipment of coins, $130,000 in half dollars, arrived by ship on December 9, 1883.[23] Hawaii was still in an economic recession. A number of members of the business community, including Sanford B. Dole, objected to the issue on the grounds that so much silver would inflate the currency, and went to court to prevent the government from giving Spreckels bonds in exchange for anything except gold coin, as the law required.[24] The government opposed the action, which was brought in the islands' supreme court, on the grounds that the silver coins were equivalent to gold. The chief justice, A. F. Judd, granted a temporary writ of mandamus against the government giving the Dole plaintiffs what they wanted, finding that the coins were not equivalent to gold, and that the coinage and loan acts had been violated. On appeal to the full court, though, Judd was reversed, as the court found that Dole and his associates should have filed for an injunction. But when they did, the petition was denied. In the interim at a meeting chaired by the king, the privy council had declared the new coinage a legal tender; once the lawsuit was resolved, the government paid for a half million dollars in coins with a like amount of bonds.[25]

Spreckels and his partners William G. Irwin and F. F. Low formed the Spreckels & Company Bank in Hawaii in 1884, for the specific purpose of circulating the silver coins.[26] The first Hawaiian silver coin known to have been spent, a half dollar, was found among the receipts at the Honolulu Music Hall on January 10, 1884. It was placed in a pendant and given to the leading lady. The new coinage went into general circulation on January 14, with coins available at the Hawaiian Treasury and at Spreckels' new bank in Honolulu. There was considerable demand, and the coins (all of which were received by June 1884) displaced American quarter dollars and half dollars in circulation, something taken (depending on political position) to mean that they were accepted, or that Gresham's Law (bad money drives out good) was in operation.[27] The Hawaiian Treasury had been almost out of cash before receiving the coins, and they entered commerce as the government paid for goods and services, increasing the money supply and risking inflation.[28] Within six months of issue, the coins traded against American currency at a discount of 21⁄2 percent.[29]

 
Claus Spreckels

Dole and his allies in the legislature used the coin issuance as a means of attacking the government, accusing Gibson and others of disobeying the laws, and demanding information on Spreckels' profits, which the government stated was about three percent after costs such as transport and insurance were calculated.[30] The political fallout of the coinage was the 1884 election-year shift towards the Kuokoa (independent) Party in the legislature. The Currency Act of 1884, passed after the election, restricted acceptance of silver coin as payment to debts under $10, and limited the exchange of silver for gold at the treasury to $150,000 a month.[31] The new silver coins were expected to flow into the Treasury in exchange for gold under this arrangement, but the government refused to implement the law until forced to by the Supreme Court. To avoid a financial panic, major private banks and businesses agreed to exchange gold for the new silver coins, in which there was little public confidence. But in February 1885, faced with a government refusal to pay out gold (of which the Treasury was almost bare), the private businesses stopped this arrangement. Negotiations followed, and the government reluctantly agreed to sequester more than $550,000 of the coins in a special account to back the banknotes then in circulation. Although this left the government with little liquidity, the increased confidence in its finances allowed it to borrow on a short-term basis. By mid-1885, sugar prices were rising, and prosperity was returning to the islands. Greater amounts of gold flowed into the islands, balancing the silver that was already there, and stabilizing the monetary situation. The Kalākaua coins became more acceptable, and by 1888, most of the non-US foreign silver had been exchanged for them.[32] They remained in circulation during the turbulent years of the 1890s in Hawaii, as the monarchy fell and the short-lived republic ended in 1898 with annexation to the United States. Despite the urging of local interests, it was not until 1903 that Congress acted, ordering that the Hawaii silver coins be exchanged by January 1, 1904, or lose status as legal tender. By 1907, coins worth about $814,000 of the $1,000,000 originally issued had been redeemed;[30] they were exchanged for US silver and melted down at the San Francisco Mint.[33]

Reuse and collecting edit

 
Three modern-day replicas of the Kalākaua dollar grouped with an original, mounted in a small silver dish

Of the coins that were not redeemed, some were likely lost in the fires that devastated Honolulu's Chinatown in 1887 and 1900. Members of that community were often distrustful of banks, and hid valuables in their homes. Quantities of the remainder were used in the jewelry trade,[34] which bought several thousand dollars worth in the final months the coins remained legal tender.[35] In the years after territorial status was granted Hawaii in 1900, many sought keepsakes of the vanished kingdom, and a large variety of souvenir items featuring the coins were sold as enameled (and unenameled) jewelry: pins, watch fobs, cuff links, belt buckles, hat bands and hat pins. Decorative items such as spoons and napkin rings were also made. Generally, the side featuring the coat of arms is the one enameled.[36]

Members of the coin collecting community own some of the Kalākaua pieces. Richard S. Yeoman's A Guide Book of United States Coins in its 2018 edition lists the quarter dollar as generally the least expensive Hawaii coin, ranging from $50 to $375 for the pieces struck for circulation. Proof coins are much more expensive, especially the 121⁄2 cent piece (hapawalu), a copy of which brought $43,125 at auction in 2011.[16][37] The Kalākaua coins have been reproduced, and their designs repurposed for privately issued medals. The dies for the original coins were cancelled and are in the Hawaiʻi State Archives.[38]

Mintages edit

Denomination Circulation Proof Melted Net distribution [22]
Dime 250,000 26 79 249,947
121⁄2 cents 0 20 0 20
Quarter dollar 500,000 26 257,400 243,626
Half dollar 700,000 26 612,245 87,781
Dollar 500,000 26 453,652 46,374

Citations edit

  1. ^ a b Medcalf & Russell, p. 4.
  2. ^ Billam-Walker, p. 14.
  3. ^ Medcalf & Russell, p. 37.
  4. ^ a b Andrade, pp. 97–98.
  5. ^ Medcalf & Russell, p. 15.
  6. ^ Andrade, pp. 99–100.
  7. ^ Medcalf & Russell, p. 5.
  8. ^ Andrade, pp. 97–99.
  9. ^ a b Adler February 1960, pp. 132–133.
  10. ^ Andrade, p. 39.
  11. ^ Billam-Walker, p. 16.
  12. ^ Adler February 1960, p. 134.
  13. ^ Adler February 1960, pp. 134–135.
  14. ^ Adler February 1960, p. 135.
  15. ^ Adler February 1960, pp. 134–136.
  16. ^ a b Yeoman, p. 424.
  17. ^ a b Marvin, p. 41.
  18. ^ Andrade, p. 99.
  19. ^ a b Marvin, p. 42.
  20. ^ Arndt, p. 109.
  21. ^ Medcalf & Russell, pp. 7, 41.
  22. ^ a b Medcalf & Russell, pp. 40–41.
  23. ^ Adler February 1960, p. 137.
  24. ^ Andrade, p. 100.
  25. ^ Adler February 1960, pp. 137–138.
  26. ^ Kuykendall, p. 82.
  27. ^ Adler March 1960, pp. 258–259.
  28. ^ Andrade, p. 101.
  29. ^ Billam-Walker, p. 22.
  30. ^ a b Adler March 1960, pp. 261–262.
  31. ^ Andrade, p. 103.
  32. ^ Andrade, pp. 105–107.
  33. ^ Andrade, p. 107.
  34. ^ Medcalf & Russell, pp. 42–43.
  35. ^ Adler March 1960, p. 266.
  36. ^ Medcalf & Russell, p. 43.
  37. ^ von Buol, Peter (July–August 2011). "Kalakaua's Coins". Maui Nō Ka ʻOi Magazine. Retrieved January 22, 2017.
  38. ^ Medcalf & Russell, pp. 39, 42, 116, 118.

References edit

  • Adler, Jacob (February 1960). "Coinage of the Hawaiian Kingdom: King Kalakaua's Coins". The Numismatist: 131–138.
  • Adler, Jacob (March 1960). "Coinage of the Hawaiian Kingdom: King Kalakaua's Coins". The Numismatist: 259–266.
  • Andrade, Ernest (1977). "Hawaiian Coinage Controversy – Or, What Price a Handsome Profile". Hawaiian Journal of History. 11. hdl:10524/415 – via eVols at University of Hawai'i at Manoa.
  • Arndt, Jno. P. G. (March 1918). "The Coins of Hawaii". The Numismatist: 168–169.
  • Billam-Walker, Donald (1940). "Money of Hawaii". Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society. 48: 14–28.
  • Kuykendall, Ralph Simpson (1967). The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874–1893, The Kalakaua Dynasty. Vol. 3. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-87022-433-1. OCLC 500374815.
  • Marvin, W. T. R. (October 1883). "The Coins of Hawaii". American Journal of Numismatics. 18 (2): 41–42. JSTOR 43585205.
  • Medcalf, Donald; Russell, Ronald (1991) [1978]. Hawaiian Money Standard Catalog (second ed.). Mill Creek, WA: Ronald Russell. ISBN 978-0-9623263-0-1.
  • Yeoman, Richard S. (2017). Kenneth Bressett (ed.). A Guide Book of United States Coins 2018 (71st ed.). ISBN 978-0-7948-4506-3.

May 08, 2024
kalākaua, coinage, silver, coins, kingdom, hawaii, dated, 1883, authorized, boost, hawaiian, pride, giving, kingdom, money, they, were, designed, charles, barber, chief, engraver, united, states, bureau, mint, were, struck, francisco, mint, issued, coins, dime. The Kalakaua coinage is a set of silver coins of the Kingdom of Hawaii dated 1883 authorized to boost Hawaiian pride by giving the kingdom its own money They were designed by Charles E Barber Chief Engraver of the United States Bureau of the Mint and were struck at the San Francisco Mint The issued coins are a dime ten cent piece quarter dollar half dollar and dollar Kalakaua 1883 dime No immediate action had been taken after the 1880 act authorizing coins but King Kalakaua was interested and government officials saw a way to get out of a financial bind by getting coins issued in exchange for government bonds Businessman Claus Spreckels was willing to make the arrangements with the United States in exchange for profits from the coin production and contracted with the US Mint to have 1 000 000 worth of coins struck Originally a 121 2 cent piece was planned and a few specimens were struck but it was scrapped in an effort to have uniformity between US and Hawaiian coins and a dime was substituted The coins were struck at San Francisco in 1883 and 1884 though all bear the earlier date The coins met a hostile reception from the business community in Honolulu who feared inflation of the currency in a time of recession After legal maneuvering the government agreed to use over half of the coinage as backing for paper currency which continued until better economic times began in 1885 After that the coins were more eagerly accepted in circulation They remained in the flow of commerce on the islands until withdrawn in 1903 after Hawaii had become a US territory Contents 1 Background 2 Preparation 3 Design 4 Distribution and controversy 5 Reuse and collecting 6 Mintages 7 Citations 8 ReferencesBackground editFurther information Hawaiian dollar and Coins of the Hawaiian dollar Native Hawaiians before the arrival of Captain Cook in 1770 used no coins trade in their agricultural economy was based on barter Early relations between Hawaiians and explorers were also based on barter 1 with nails beads and small pieces of iron sometimes being used as money 2 but as more systematic foreign trade began at the turn of the 19th century coins of many lands came to the islands as payment for exports The arrival of the missionaries and the plantations and other commercial activity that soon followed led to the first currencies generated by the islands tokens and scrip used to pay workers because of the chronic shortage of small change The trade ties and cultural connections with the United States led the early Hawaii business community to think in terms of the US dollar and it became the basis for trade with the Hawaiian royal government periodically publishing tables of the value of non US coins in terms of the dollar This was necessary because such coins brought to the islands by foreign trade circulated as a means of exchange alongside American silver and gold pieces 1 In 1847 King Kamehameha III issued a one cent coin most likely struck by a firm in New England It was unpopular with merchants who preferred not to deal with such small amounts Some were issued in change in government transactions but only about 12 000 ever circulated The failure caused the government to reconsider plans to issue more denominations of coins 3 By 1883 most coins on the islands were American due to the close economic integration between islands and mainland The laws of Hawaii reflected this making gold American coins legal tender for an unlimited amount and American silver coins legal tender to 50 4 In 1879 the kingdom issued its first currency notes technically certificates of deposit redeemable in silver coin and with denominations ranging from 10 to 500 5 At that time in Hawaii gold coins brought a premium over their face value if purchased with silver only gold could be used for certain transactions such as paying customs duties Silver had been heavily imported into the kingdom in the 1870s despite government efforts to slow the flow with taxes and thus gold was more expensive there in terms of silver than in the United States which was more stable monetarily Any large influx of silver into circulation such as by the Kalakaua coins meant that silver in the hands of the public might become worth less in terms of gold In 1883 Hawaii was in a recession due in part to a fall in sugar prices because of overproduction 6 Preparation edit nbsp Walter M Gibson Finance chair Walter M Gibson supported by Minister of the Interior Samuel G Wilder pushed a new currency law through the 1880 legislature 7 It allowed the kingdom to purchase gold and silver bullion to be struck into new Hawaiian coins Having the kingdom issue its own coins was one means by which the government hoped to improve Native Hawaiian morale as their numbers and their influence had both been declining over the previous few decades 4 The king became more interested in coinage bearing his likeness during his world tour of 1881 During this journey he was contacted by the owner of a New Caledonia nickel mining company hoping to use the metal in coinage and sample five cent pieces were sent to the king after his return to Honolulu They found little favor possibly because Hawaii s motto was misspelled No action was taken until 1882 when the king appointed Gibson to lead the government He moved forward with the coin idea the currency was to have the king s image on the obverse side and Hawaii s coat of arms and motto Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻAina i ka Pono The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness on the reverse 8 The 1880 law specified that the silver coins were to be in denominations of one dollar fifty cents twenty five cents and twelve and one half cents 9 10 Twelve and one half cents or one bit one Spanish colonial real was sometimes the day s pay for a laborer 11 A National Loan Act provided for 2 million in bonds but due to its poor creditworthiness the kingdom had been unable to sell them Gibson hit upon the idea of combining the two acts by appointing businessman Claus Spreckels a close friend of the king as government agent to contract with the United States Mint to have coins struck there and for Spreckels to be paid in government bonds In March 1883 the cabinet council authorized Finance Minister John Makini Kapena to make the arrangement with Spreckels who received formal authority for this role in May H A P Carter Hawaiian envoy in Washington acted as intermediary between the Hawaiians and the US government and wrote to Kapena in June that the US authorities regarded the agency arrangement as peculiar since a more usual way of proceeding would have been for the Hawaiian government to contract directly and to pay for the coins in cash 9 nbsp King Kalakaua Spreckels was already in correspondence with American authorities in January 1883 the Director of the United States Mint Horatio Burchard had written to him explaining the laws under which the Mint could strike coins for foreign governments and that although the coins could be struck at the San Francisco Mint the dies for the coinage would have to be prepared at Philadelphia He asked for sketches from Spreckels who provided an obverse showing a full face portrait of the king this was submitted to Chief Engraver Charles E Barber in Philadelphia who rejected it as impractical Barber recommended the king be shown in profile and a suitable photograph was sent to him for use in preparing models of the proposed coins Once the Mint received Spreckels commission as agent Acting Director Robert E Preston wrote noting that the authorization called for 121 2 cent pieces but that the Hawaiian law had called for coins identical in size weight and fineness to US coins and there was no such denomination struck by the US Mint He asked if ten cent pieces were desired instead but no answer was immediately forthcoming and Barber finished preliminary designs including the 121 2 cent piece 12 Barber finished hubs for the four coins in September 1883 and Philadelphia Mint Superintendent A Loudon Snowden had two sets struck and sent to Preston in Washington Snowden praised the beauty of the coins and was happy that Barber had required less relief than needed on US coins of like value since this meant the coins would be easier for the Mint to strike Preston sent the coins to Spreckels in San Francisco and authorized Philadelphia to make additional sets both for its coin cabinet and for the director s office in Washington Barber was instructed to make five sets of coining dies for each denomination to be sent to the San Francisco Mint with instructions that no coins were to be struck pending a final contract with Spreckels and that the dies were to remain Hawaiian government property to be turned over on request 13 The formal contract was dated October 29 signed by Spreckels as agent for Hawaii and by San Francisco Mint Superintendent E F Burton It provided for 1 000 000 in coins 500 000 in silver dollars 300 000 in half dollars 125 000 in quarter dollars and 75 000 in dimes The Hawaiian government made the change from 121 2 cent pieces to dimes because it was negotiating a monetary convention with the United States and wanted its coins to conform to America s though this convention never went into force By mid November the change had been noticed by the Mint and Spreckels sent confirmation and a go ahead to make dies for the dime on the understanding that a revised authorization would be needed from Honolulu before production of dimes could begin This was received in December By this time the kingdom s order was already in production having started with a run of half dollars in November Barber did not complete work on hubs for the dime until January 1884 and dies were not dispatched to San Francisco until February though they are dated 1883 Once he had received the dies for the ten cent coin Burton sent the unneeded dies for the 121 2 cent piece to the director s office in Washington 14 Spreckels supplied the bullion for the coins at a cost of about 850 000 He paid 17 500 as the Mint s fee for striking the coins 2 500 for designs and 250 for dies A final change reduced the total value in dimes to 25 000 250 000 coins while increasing the value in half dollars to 350 000 700 000 coins 15 Design edit nbsp Kalakaua 1883 one dollar coin Both sides of each coin were designed by Charles E Barber 16 The obverse displays a naked bust of Kalakaua He is surrounded by his name and title the date appears beneath W T R Marvin writing in 1883 for the American Journal of Numismatics said he had been told by those who had seen the coins that the profile head of the King compares favorably with that of many rulers of much more important countries 17 Ernest Andrade who chronicled the controversy caused by the coins wrote that they bore Kalakaua s profile admittedly a handsome one 18 nbsp Half dollar coin adapted as the seal of the Hawaiian consul in Suva Fiji In the Fiji Museum The dollar half dollar and quarter dollar bear the royal arms set forth most fully on the dollar where the shield is emblazoned on a mantle possibly ermine Marvin suggested the famous feather cloak worn by Kamehameha the Great as a more appropriate choice than the fur to bear the arms 19 Below the shield on the dollar is suspended the Star of the Order of Kamehameha and above it is the royal crown 20 Around the coin is Hawaii s motto words spoken by Kamehameha following a time of distress 19 To either side is 1 and D below is the denomination of one dollar rendered in Hawaiian AKAHI DALA Dala became the Hawaiian term for dollar in missionary times as words changed to conform to the smaller Hawaiian alphabet Dollar is rendered dala in speech in many parts of Asia and the Pacific 21 The reverses of the half dollar and quarter dollar bear the arms without the mantle and order encircled by the motto with the denomination expressed respectively as HAPALUA meaning half dollar and HAPAHA quarter dollar Each of the two coins pairs its fraction with the D on either side of the shield The 121 2 cent piece known today only by a few proof pieces bears a wreath with a crown separating its branches and with the motto surrounding The denomination is within the wreath expressed as HAPAWALA That design was adapted for the dime with the denomination within the wreath expressed as UMI KENETA and below the wreath ONE DIME both meaning ten cents 17 22 Distribution and controversy edit nbsp Sanford B Dole The first shipment of coins 130 000 in half dollars arrived by ship on December 9 1883 23 Hawaii was still in an economic recession A number of members of the business community including Sanford B Dole objected to the issue on the grounds that so much silver would inflate the currency and went to court to prevent the government from giving Spreckels bonds in exchange for anything except gold coin as the law required 24 The government opposed the action which was brought in the islands supreme court on the grounds that the silver coins were equivalent to gold The chief justice A F Judd granted a temporary writ of mandamus against the government giving the Dole plaintiffs what they wanted finding that the coins were not equivalent to gold and that the coinage and loan acts had been violated On appeal to the full court though Judd was reversed as the court found that Dole and his associates should have filed for an injunction But when they did the petition was denied In the interim at a meeting chaired by the king the privy council had declared the new coinage a legal tender once the lawsuit was resolved the government paid for a half million dollars in coins with a like amount of bonds 25 Spreckels and his partners William G Irwin and F F Low formed the Spreckels amp Company Bank in Hawaii in 1884 for the specific purpose of circulating the silver coins 26 The first Hawaiian silver coin known to have been spent a half dollar was found among the receipts at the Honolulu Music Hall on January 10 1884 It was placed in a pendant and given to the leading lady The new coinage went into general circulation on January 14 with coins available at the Hawaiian Treasury and at Spreckels new bank in Honolulu There was considerable demand and the coins all of which were received by June 1884 displaced American quarter dollars and half dollars in circulation something taken depending on political position to mean that they were accepted or that Gresham s Law bad money drives out good was in operation 27 The Hawaiian Treasury had been almost out of cash before receiving the coins and they entered commerce as the government paid for goods and services increasing the money supply and risking inflation 28 Within six months of issue the coins traded against American currency at a discount of 21 2 percent 29 nbsp Claus Spreckels Dole and his allies in the legislature used the coin issuance as a means of attacking the government accusing Gibson and others of disobeying the laws and demanding information on Spreckels profits which the government stated was about three percent after costs such as transport and insurance were calculated 30 The political fallout of the coinage was the 1884 election year shift towards the Kuokoa independent Party in the legislature The Currency Act of 1884 passed after the election restricted acceptance of silver coin as payment to debts under 10 and limited the exchange of silver for gold at the treasury to 150 000 a month 31 The new silver coins were expected to flow into the Treasury in exchange for gold under this arrangement but the government refused to implement the law until forced to by the Supreme Court To avoid a financial panic major private banks and businesses agreed to exchange gold for the new silver coins in which there was little public confidence But in February 1885 faced with a government refusal to pay out gold of which the Treasury was almost bare the private businesses stopped this arrangement Negotiations followed and the government reluctantly agreed to sequester more than 550 000 of the coins in a special account to back the banknotes then in circulation Although this left the government with little liquidity the increased confidence in its finances allowed it to borrow on a short term basis By mid 1885 sugar prices were rising and prosperity was returning to the islands Greater amounts of gold flowed into the islands balancing the silver that was already there and stabilizing the monetary situation The Kalakaua coins became more acceptable and by 1888 most of the non US foreign silver had been exchanged for them 32 They remained in circulation during the turbulent years of the 1890s in Hawaii as the monarchy fell and the short lived republic ended in 1898 with annexation to the United States Despite the urging of local interests it was not until 1903 that Congress acted ordering that the Hawaii silver coins be exchanged by January 1 1904 or lose status as legal tender By 1907 coins worth about 814 000 of the 1 000 000 originally issued had been redeemed 30 they were exchanged for US silver and melted down at the San Francisco Mint 33 Reuse and collecting edit nbsp Three modern day replicas of the Kalakaua dollar grouped with an original mounted in a small silver dish Of the coins that were not redeemed some were likely lost in the fires that devastated Honolulu s Chinatown in 1887 and 1900 Members of that community were often distrustful of banks and hid valuables in their homes Quantities of the remainder were used in the jewelry trade 34 which bought several thousand dollars worth in the final months the coins remained legal tender 35 In the years after territorial status was granted Hawaii in 1900 many sought keepsakes of the vanished kingdom and a large variety of souvenir items featuring the coins were sold as enameled and unenameled jewelry pins watch fobs cuff links belt buckles hat bands and hat pins Decorative items such as spoons and napkin rings were also made Generally the side featuring the coat of arms is the one enameled 36 Members of the coin collecting community own some of the Kalakaua pieces Richard S Yeoman s A Guide Book of United States Coins in its 2018 edition lists the quarter dollar as generally the least expensive Hawaii coin ranging from 50 to 375 for the pieces struck for circulation Proof coins are much more expensive especially the 121 2 cent piece hapawalu a copy of which brought 43 125 at auction in 2011 16 37 The Kalakaua coins have been reproduced and their designs repurposed for privately issued medals The dies for the original coins were cancelled and are in the Hawaiʻi State Archives 38 Mintages editDenomination Circulation Proof Melted Net distribution 22 Dime 250 000 26 79 249 947 121 2 cents 0 20 0 20 Quarter dollar 500 000 26 257 400 243 626 Half dollar 700 000 26 612 245 87 781 Dollar 500 000 26 453 652 46 374Citations edit a b Medcalf amp Russell p 4 Billam Walker p 14 Medcalf amp Russell p 37 a b Andrade pp 97 98 Medcalf amp Russell p 15 Andrade pp 99 100 Medcalf amp Russell p 5 Andrade pp 97 99 a b Adler February 1960 pp 132 133 Andrade p 39 Billam Walker p 16 Adler February 1960 p 134 Adler February 1960 pp 134 135 Adler February 1960 p 135 Adler February 1960 pp 134 136 a b Yeoman p 424 a b Marvin p 41 Andrade p 99 a b Marvin p 42 Arndt p 109 Medcalf amp Russell pp 7 41 a b Medcalf amp Russell pp 40 41 Adler February 1960 p 137 Andrade p 100 Adler February 1960 pp 137 138 Kuykendall p 82 Adler March 1960 pp 258 259 Andrade p 101 Billam Walker p 22 a b Adler March 1960 pp 261 262 Andrade p 103 Andrade pp 105 107 Andrade p 107 Medcalf amp Russell pp 42 43 Adler March 1960 p 266 Medcalf amp Russell p 43 von Buol Peter July August 2011 Kalakaua s Coins Maui Nō Ka ʻOi Magazine Retrieved January 22 2017 Medcalf amp Russell pp 39 42 116 118 References editAdler Jacob February 1960 Coinage of the Hawaiian Kingdom King Kalakaua s Coins The Numismatist 131 138 Adler Jacob March 1960 Coinage of the Hawaiian Kingdom King Kalakaua s Coins The Numismatist 259 266 Andrade Ernest 1977 Hawaiian Coinage Controversy Or What Price a Handsome Profile Hawaiian Journal of History 11 hdl 10524 415 via eVols at University of Hawai i at Manoa Arndt Jno P G March 1918 The Coins of Hawaii The Numismatist 168 169 Billam Walker Donald 1940 Money of Hawaii Annual Report of the Hawaiian Historical Society 48 14 28 Kuykendall Ralph Simpson 1967 The Hawaiian Kingdom 1874 1893 The Kalakaua Dynasty Vol 3 Honolulu University of Hawaii Press ISBN 978 0 87022 433 1 OCLC 500374815 Marvin W T R October 1883 The Coins of Hawaii American Journal of Numismatics 18 2 41 42 JSTOR 43585205 Medcalf Donald Russell Ronald 1991 1978 Hawaiian Money Standard Catalog second ed Mill Creek WA Ronald Russell ISBN 978 0 9623263 0 1 Yeoman Richard S 2017 Kenneth Bressett ed A Guide Book of United States Coins 2018 71st ed ISBN 978 0 7948 4506 3 Portal nbsp Numismatics Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Kalakaua coinage amp 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