British Empire Ordinance Year 1895 on Silver Dollars and Its implications (PART 1)

Indian Currency Committee was formed in 1893 by appointment by the Secretary of State for the colonies to consider the currency in the British Far Eastern  possessions. It made no recommendations regarding the standard currency in the Straights Settlements; however, it did advocate the issue of British dollar for circulation in the Settlements and to other eastern possessions.

In 1894, one year later, The Hong kong Chamber of Coomerce brought up this matter again due to the scarcity of Mexican dollars which has threathened the British trading in the east. It received widespread support from the bankers and others with commercial relations with the Straits Settlements, Hong Kong and including chamber of commerce in London.

Hence by Order in Council dated 2nd February 1895, a new coinned British Trade Dollar became legal tender in Hong Kong, Straits Settlements and Labuan. The opportunity was also taken to review the existing laws regulating the coinages of these british colonies.

By the same Order in Council, also dated 2nd February 1895, all previous monetary laws of the Straits Settlements were repealed and new regulations introduced.

The essences in the Ordinance are:

1. Mexican Dollar still remained the standard coin for trading

Additional dollars were given equal LEGAL TENDER status. These coins were;

A. British Trade Dollar (newly coined from 1895)

B. Hong Kong Dollar coined between 1865-1868

C. Japanese Yen dollars

3. The new order omitted the United States trade dollar, which was previously sanctioned by the Governor's regulation of 1874.  Minting of the US trade dollar had ceased on 19th February 1887, and by this time 1895, it is rarely seen in Far East.

Reference:
Coins and Coinages of the Straits Settlements and British Malaya 1786 to 1951 by Major F. Pridmore, pg 46-47Spink & Son LTD, London 1968.

British Empire Ordinance Year 1895 on Silver Dollars and Its implications (PART 2)

The Full article on Order of Her Majesty Queen in Council of 2nd February 1895
Page 1

Page 2

The schedule on silver dollars parameters as in the Ordinance

Additional Schedule on other denominations:

Reference: 
Coins and Coinages of the Straits Settlements and British Malaya 1786 to 1951 by Major F. Pridmore, Appendix XXIV; Spink & Son LTD, London 1968.

The History of Trade Dollars in late 1800 and the Birth of British Trade Dollars

Trading in the Late 1800 to Early 1900

The silver British Dollar (commonly called the trade dollar) was born out of commercial necessity. It was issued at a time when the burgeoning trade in the East needed a medium of payment.

At the end of the 19th centuries,  an over-production of silver caused an upset in the goldsilver ratio, an extremely serious situation because many countries in the East used silver to back their currencies. As the price of silver plummeted the shortage of minted dollars became worse. Moreover, it became evident that trade was being dislocated as a result.

Silver price drop in between 1880s to 1910s affected trading

By the time the British dollar made its appearance there were already several other "trade dollars" on the market. The most common of them was the Mexican silver dollar-the famous eight reale,0.900 fine silver coin which was minted as early as 1824. This was followed by the United States trade dollar of 420 grains of 0.900 fine silver minted between 1873 and 1883, the Japanese trade dollar of similar weight and fineness minted between 1875 and 1877, and the French "Piastre de Commerce" which came in two weights, i.e. 27.215 grams (minted between 1885 and 1895) and 27 grams (minted between 1895 and 1928).

The Expansion of British Empire

By the middle of the nineteenth century the British presence in the East was being keenly felt. The Straits Settlements, established to link the now-defunct British East India Company's outposts of Penang, Malacca and Singapore, were beginning to flourish as important centres of trade in the Malay Archipelago. 

In 1842, with the signing of the Treaty of Nanking, China, having lost the Opium War, ceded the "barren" island of Hong Kong to the British in perpetuity and opened up five coastal cities (subsequently called the "Treaty Ports") to foreign trade. In 1859, the Suez Canal was opened, thereby shortening the sea between Europe and Asia by several months. In 1869, Japan was launched in to the golden age of the Meiji period which saw the lifting of restrictions on foreign trade.

It is therefore spawned the problem of finding a suitable currency for the heightened commercial activities. It began to occupy the urgent attention of local authorities who were urged on by merchants-particularly those in the Straits Settlements and Hong Kong- who began sending petition after petition for the introduction of an acceptable coin that would circulate easily in the silver-using countries of the East.It the end, to overcome the real threat of a currency famine, the British government, on the suggestion of the Colonial Currency Committee, approved the minting of a special British dollar for use in the Eastern trade.

The British Trade Dollar

  

In concept and purpose the British dollar-which came in only one denomination-was exactly the same as the Portcullis money of the early 1600s and was even issued by the same authority, i.e. the Royal Prerogative of the English sovereign.  

The coins was grain-edged, had a diameter of 39 cm and was struck in 26.95 grams (416 grains) of 0.900 fine silver. The dies were prepared by London Royal Mint engraver G W De Saulles. Three mints participated in the minting of the coins - the Indian Government Mints at Bombay and Calcutta as well as the Royal Mint in London.

But unlike the coinage of the realm, the dollar was not given a fixed sterling value; its value fluctuated according to the prices of silver at any given date.

The British dollar was declared legal tender on February 2, 1895 by an Order of Council in the Straits Settlements, Hong Kong and Labuan (off the north-west coast of British North Borneo). Although it was minted till 1935, the British dollar was quite quickly demonetised, fist in the Straits Settlements in 1904 and then in Labuan in 1905. But it continued to remain as legal tender in Hong Kong until 1937, at the outbreak of the second Sino-Japanese War of 1937-45.

After that it lost its legal circulation status and was merchandised. Anyway, the coins struck in 1934 and 1935 were generally not released for circulation.

Original Source : Coin Digest.Ng L.K. Ewe.
Modified with approval from Mr Dickson at http://dniewcollectors.blogspot.com

New Trend of Collection habits among Collectors.

A bit of deviatrion form the trade dollars to discuss on market place...

NGC and PCGS coin grading have been around for decades. In the old days, usually only better grades and rarer coins are being slabbed for authentification purpose and also for preservation.I would say it all started with the mania on China Silver coins in the past 2-3  years, where authentification is the prime concern at that time. Many sellers have problems letting go their unslabbed coins and have to settle for a lower dealing price for such coins. From there, the demand for slabbing service picks up locally.

As a result of that a few dealers have started having runners sending coins for slabbing to Singapore (Mavin or Monetorium) or Hong Kong (PCGS) for grading service and a new chapter of events unfolds.

An overview of a grading process can be read at my friend and sifu blog post at: Slabbing Coins with NGC

The new chapter of events unfolding locally are:

For new generation of collectors who are more affluent, they prefer these slabbed coins.  They are less burdened by preserving the coins and they are willing to pay a price for the authentification process. It is in opinion that these coins are easier to sell later on, be it over the coin dealers or internet base platform like ebay, facebook etc.

For more senior coin collectors who have been collecting for many many years, they started to realized that these coins may deteriorate, and over the years some of their collections have become scarce. As such, slabbing these coin is cost effective and a reasonable thing to do. For example, they may have bought some coins for RM 80. But now the price has risen say to RM 600 in the catalogue. By slabbing the coin, it may added a cost of RM200 per coin in the process; but they will be able to sell it easier at the catalogue price of RM600. There will be a lot of argument if these coins are not slabbed, and they may only be able to sell it around RM 400-500 after bargaining process.

A walk in Times Square KL yesterday, I also find lots of new dealers coming into the market. A simple chat with them also revealed their preference for dealing with slabbed coins. To them, it save them the hassles of arguing the grading process with the prospective customers. In addition, the beautifully high grade slabbed coins also added prestige to their newly started shops - be it in presence, or virtually on the internet.

These sellers are extremely friendly and helpful, do visit them if you drop by in Kuala Lumpur. However, over weekends, they are still stationed in Amcorp Mall.

As for you and I...
Are we going to send our coins for slabbing?
Are we going to buy these slabbed coins at higher price?
Are you going to be like some collectors who are only after MS 65-67 coins or you wound settle for MS 62-64 like most seasoned collectors??
What are you going to do with the AU details, UNC details coins - sell them as fast as possible like the MS maniacs, or have the comfort of saying "they are genuine coins, so it is fine" ??

What are you saying on this???

My take it...
We must have the knowledge to deal with these scenarios and coin.
It is the knowledge that will prevent us from buying an overpriced coin.

The old saying from a property investor still hold true... if you are buying for investment
"You make the profit at the point of buying, not when you sell"

British Trade Dollar Year 1903 - 2 variants with interesting overdates

British trade dollar 1903 has 2 variants.

It is only minted from the bombay mint.

Therefore it has only the 1903B mint mark coins.

The other variant is the overdate of 1903/02

It recorded a total mintage of 3,955,647.

This makes this coin a scarcer coin

Variant 1 : British Trade Dollar 1903 B

This coin is puporsely chosen for display. The usual B mint mark at the prong.
However the mirror like surface with a normal luster is not usual.
This is a cleaned coin -- where the luster is lost
But the high grade details are preserved but it just not natural.
My camera has difficulty focus it sharp due to the reflection

The reverse

Variant 2: The Overdate 1903 over 02 B

Some 1903 can easily mistaken as overdates.
The trick to is to look for the long body of 2 underneath the 3.

Tradedollar.blogspot.com with pictures updated

Many coin collectors have their own blogs and they have been doing this for years. Two of my best friends has advised me to shrink the pictures for faster page view time. He also advised and recommended me on taking better pictures in terms of the lighting.

Therefore, an endeavor has undertaken to update the pages i previously uploaded.

Updated posts with new pictures are:
British Trade Dollar 1895
British Trade Dollar 1896
British Trade Dollar 1897
British Trade Dollar 1898
British Trade Dollar 1899
British Trade Dollar 1900
British Trade Dollar 1901
British Trade Dollar 1902

You are invited to visit back these pages for new pictures and caption descriptions.

Future posts will also be posted in such a way that it is more readers friendly.

The pictures used in this blog, unless otherwise stated are of my own collections.

British Trade Dollar Year 1902 - One unique Retooled Date is extremely rare

British trade dollar year 1902 has 3 varieties
It is produced in India Bombay mint with a B mint mark and Calcutta Mint with a C mint mark.

The recorded mintage are 30,404,499 for 1902 B and 1,266,618 for 1902C.
The 30 million plus 1902 B makes this one of the commonest BTD in the market

However 1902C is a rare variety.
The C mint mark is only present for 3 years namely 1900C,1901C and 1902C

The third variety is essentially a retooled die.
It is graded by NGC as 1902/2B
This variety if found is rare and beginner collectors usually not aware of its existence

Variety 1: British Trade Dollar 1902 B
This is the commonest variety

The usual 1902 B.
Purposely selected some irregularly toned coin for display.
This is due to mishandling. Most likely captured vapour in coin flip.
This stresses the importance of proper handling and care for coins

The reverse

Variety 2: British Trade Dollar 1902 C
This is rare variant
This coin is high grade coins which showed the C mint mark clearly.

The flat prong area and C mint mark.
This is high valued coin at its high grade.

Variety 3: British Trade Dollar 1902 /2 B 
This is a retooled die.
Looking closer at the date section, you will see the "2" has been repaired and the old shadows of 2 is hidden next to the printed digit on the die.

This is a retooled die. Very rare variants.
the 1902 is practically double shadowed.
However NGC grade this coin as 1902/2 in the census