Hawaii Regular Issues

Ron Guth: Hawaiian coins made for circulation in the islands include the 1847 One Cent coins and the 1883 silver issues.

The 1847 Hawaiian Keneta (One Cent) was commissioned by King Kamehameha III, ruler of the Hawaiian Islands, under a newly established monetary system. The Keneta was to be the equivalent of the United States Large Cent; it was, in fact, minted privately in America. The designer and engraver was Edward Hulseman, who is perhaps better known for his 1837 Half Cent token. An obvious error on Hulseman's part was to misspell the denomination as "Hapa Haneri" instead of "Hapa Hanele". Although the coin was a disappointment to the Hawaiians, the Keneta remained legal tender until 1884 and circulated even later. According to Breen, Wayte Raymond used to travel to Belmont, Massachusetts in the 1950's to purchase Uncirculated examples from the descendants of the original minters!

In the May 20, 1953 issue of The Numismatic Scrapbook, Melvin Came offered Hawaiian Cents "from the hoard I discovered" at $3.50 for VF or better examples and $5.00 for Sharp Uncs! Not surprisingly, they are worth substantially more today.

In 1883, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars were struck at the U.S. Mint at Philadelphia for Hawaii. These coins display a bust of the King David Kalakaua. The sizes of the coins match those of United States coins and, although the Hawaiian coins bore unusual Hawaiian denominations, they were valued the same as their U.S. counterparts.

The denominations include: 1883 Umi Keneta or One Dime 1883 Hapaha or 1/4 D(ollar) 1883 Hapalua or 1/2 D(ollar) 1883 Akahi Dala or 1 D(ollar)

A 1/8 Dollar was considered as part of the series, but was replaced by the Dime when regular production began. Copper versions of the 1/8 Dollar, 1/4 Dollar, 1/2 Dollar, and 1 Dollar were struck as Proof pattern pieces to the tune of eighteen examples each.

Six Proof sets (including the above denominations) were stuck in September 1883. According to Hawaiian coin researcher, Donald Medcalf, twenty additional Proof sets were struck a year later, this time with silver versions of the Hapawalu (or 1/8 Dollar).

The government redeemed many of the regular-issue coins in later years, thus the number of coins available to collectors was reduced dramatically, as follows: Dime - 250,000 original mintage, 79 redeemed, leaving a maximum of 249,921 Dimes available to collectors Quarter Dollar - 500,000 original mintage, 257,400 redeemed, leaving a maximum of 242,600 Quarters available to collectors Half Dollar - 750,000 original mintage, 612,245 redeemed, leaving a maximum of 137,755 Half Dollar available to collectors Dollar - 500,000 original mintage, 453,652 redeemed, leaving a maximum of 46,348 Dollars available to collectors.

Sources and/or recommended reading: "Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia Of U.S. And Colonial Coins" by Walter Breen "Standard Catalog of World Coins, 19th Century, Seventh Edition 1801-1900" by Chester L. Krause and Clifford Mishler “Hawaiian Money, Standard Catalog, Second Edition” by Donald Medcalf and Ronald Russell