An 1883 Hawaii silver dollar graded Mint State 68 by Professional Coin Grading Service with a green Certified Acceptance Corp. sticker sold for $276,750 on July 21, leading GreatCollections offering of a dozen coins from the Gerald Forsythe Collection of Hawaiian issues.

Ian Russell, president of the online auction house said, “The coin was amazing. When we submitted it to CAC for stickering, it was such a rare coin that John Albanese called me and said ‘this is absolutely amazing, it blew me away.’ ” Russell added that seven unique bidders weighed in above the minimum bid of $190,000, and the piece was ultimately won by a serious collector of U.S. coins, establishing an all-time record for Hawaiian coinage.

Five official coin denominations issued for the Kingdom of Hawaii, and they have their own brief section in the “Red Book.” The coinage begins with the 1847 large-sized cent issued by King Kamehameha III, and 1883 dimes, quarter dollars, half dollars and silver dollars of King Kalakaua I, carrying his portrait in designs by Charles Barber, were struck at the San Francisco Mint — although they lack a Mint mark.

The offered 1883 Hawaii dollar is the finest-known of 500,000 pieces struck, though many were melted for a resulting estimated net mintage of just 46,348 pieces.

Garry Moore wrote on the coins of Hawaii in an October 2011 article in The Numismatist that King Kalakaua thought the production of national coins would boost morale in his nation, and authorized the purchase of gold and silver bullion to create coins for general circulation with the Kingdom of Hawaii’s Currency Act of 1880.

Moore wrote that, because Hawaiians feared that the dies that struck the issues in San Francisco would be used to strike more, flooding the kingdom with silver coins, the dies were canceled on May 23, 1888, in the presence of Mint Director James P. Kimball and were sent to Hawaii, where they now reside in the state’s archives.

The four 1883 denominations each depict a bust of King Kalakaua looking right, with an inscription identifying him as King of Hawaii. The reverses of the dime, quarter and half dollars depict a portion of the king’s coat of arms with the royal motto, translating to “The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness.” The silver dollar is distinct in showing the full coat of arms.

Odd denomination pattern

Also notable was an 1883-dated Hawaii pattern “hapawalu” eighth dollar, or 12.5-cent piece, graded Proof 66 by PCGS with a green CAC sticker that realized $116,437.50. Only 20 were minted as patterns, struck on specially created planchets at the U.S. Mint since they were the only Hawaiian denomination that did not correspond to any existing U.S. coin denomination.

In offering another PCGS Proof 66 example that realized $92,000 in 2009, Heritage explained why the odd denomination never went beyond the pattern stage, writing, “Since America already had her eyes set on the Kingdom of Hawaii for strategic purposes, it is likely that the hapawalu was replaced with the dime, or umi keneta, for the convenience of commercial trade between the two nations.”

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