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MONDAY, JULY 14, 1975
VISITORS TO THE EXHIBITION WILL SEE THESE SILVER COINS WHICH ARE COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE +TRADE DOLLARS+ AND OTHER LOCAL COINS ISSUED DURING THE REIGNS OF EDWARD VII, GEORGE V AND GEORGE VI.
THEY WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO SEE THE $1 NOTE AND CENT- DENOMINATION NOTES ISSUED BEFORE THE WAR.
THE RAREST COIN IN THE SHOW IS THE KING GEORGE VI ONE-CENT BRONZE PIECE OF 1941, WHICH NEVER CAME INTO CIRCULATION.
TWO SHIPMENTS OF THE COINS LEFT THE V.K. TOWARDS THE END OF 1941, BUT NONE ARRIVED IN HONG KONG DUE THE THE IMMINENCE OF WAR. ONE OF THE SHIPMENTS RETURNED TO THE U.K. BUT THE OTHER FELL INTO THE HANDS OF THE JAPANESE WHO MELTED THE COINS DOWN FOR WAR PURPOSES. A NUMDER OF THESE COINS ESCAPED THAT FATE AND ONLY TEN ARE NOW KNOWN TO EXIST. OF THESE COINS, THREE ARE IN HONG KONG.
DURING THE OCCUPATION PERIOD, ALL AVAILABLE STOCKS OF COINS WERE SEIZED AND SENT TO JAPAN WHERE THEY WERE MELTED DOWN FOR METAL.
TO REPLACE THE COINS, THE JAPANESE ISSUED MILITARY YEN-DENOMINATION NOTES WHICH WILL ALSO BE INCLUDED IN THE EXHIBITION.
AT THE END OF THE WAR, THERE WAS SUCH A SHORTAGE OF COINS THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD TO ISSUE LARGE QUANTITIES OF PAPER NOTES RANGING FROM ONE CENT TO $1 TO CATER FOR THE IMMEDIATE NEED.
THE CENT-DENOMINATION NOTES WERE GRADUALLY PHASED OUT FOLLOWING THE INTRODUCTION OF THE TEN-CENT AND FIVE-CENT NICKEL-BRASS COINS ISSUED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1948.
THE COINS, BEARING A HEAD PORTRAIT OF KING GEORGE VI, ARE OF THE SAME BASIC DESIGN AS THOSE WITH THE QUEEN'S EFFIGY IN USE TODAY.
IN 1951, A CUPRO-NICKEL 50-CENT COIN WAS INTRODUCED. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY THE $1 COIN OF SAME METAL CONTENT TO REPLACE THE DOLLAR NOTE.
ANOTHER ARRAY OF COINS ON DISPLAY IS COMMEMORATIVE COINS STRUCK TO MARK SPECIAL OCCASIONS. THEY INCLUDE A SILVER COIN MINTED IN HONG KONG IN 1867 TO MARK THE FOUNDATION LAYING OF THE FORMER CITY HALL, THE QUEEN VICTORIA JUBILEE ANNIVERSARY GOLD MEDALLION. THE KING EDWARD VII CORONATION BRONZE COIN IN 1902 AND THE RECENT $1,000 ROYAL VISIT GOLD COINS.
/ALSO INCLUDED
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