Thanks for catching my "San Francisco" error, Numisma. I was thinking of the 1883 Hawaiian coins which were struck at San Francisco! Methinks I should avoid making late night postings on the CCF! I amended my previous post accordingly.
Here's the scoop from Wikipedia ...
Quote:Of the first coins decided to be acted upon was the Keneta - a copper coin valued at one cent of a U.S. dollar. As the Hawaiian Treasury was in shortage of funds during this period, the copper cent was seen as an initial "affordable" issue to be followed by other denominations at a later date. James Jackson Jarves, acting as agent for the Hawaiian Government, placed an order for 100,000 of these coins in 1846. He contracted Edward Hulseman - best known for his 1837
Half Cent token - to design and engrave the coin. It is not known precisely where the pieces were minted - although Walter Breen in Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins asserts that they were produced at the private mint of H. M. & E. I. Richards of Attleboro, Massachusetts; regardless, Jarves was given a note dated January 14, 1847 in the amount of $869.56 by the Minister of Finance as payment for the order.
On 3 May 1847 the merchant ship Montreal arrived in Honolulu after sailing from Boston via Rio de Janeiro, Cape Horn and Tahiti. The Keneta were part of the cargo delivered to the Minister of Finance. When the coins reached the public they proved a grave disappointment. There has been some claim that the denomination was misspelled "Hapa Haneri" instead of the correct "Hapa Hanele" (which translates to "part of a hundred" or loosely "one cent"). However, "Hapa Hanele" is a 20th-century spelling. The spelling "Haneri" was used throughout the 19th century, and also appears on the $100 and $500 bills issued during the reign of King Kalakaua. Reports of the time state that the King's portrait was unrecognizable. In addition, the Keneta also arrived worn or discolored by the humidity and bilge water of the Montreal, in whose hold they had spent many months. Local merchants, who were "against very small transactions," immediately voiced their objections to the coins; and the only general usage witnessed was by governors of the outer islands who used them as change when collecting duties and taxes.
The last known time of issue for the Keneta was in 1862, when 11,595 were still being held in the Treasury vault. Their legal tender status was removed in 1884, and in the following year 88,305 were sold as scrap and shipped out of the country.
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Posted 10/14/2016 09:59 am
