Hong Kong 1880-H 10 cents
This specimen was lot 1215 in Stephen Album sale 39 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2021), where it sold for $1,680. The catalog description[1] noted, "HONG KONG: Victoria, 1840-1901, AR 10 cents, 1880, an attractively toned mint state example! PCGS graded MS63, ex Dr. Axel Wahlstedt Collection." The British set up a mint in Hong Kong in 1866 which struck mils through dollars. It does not seem to have been a success as the mint was closed in 1868. In 1872, Hong Kong began receiving ten cent coins from the Heaton mint and in 1869 from the Royal mint. This type was minted steadily until the queen's death in 1901 and it is common in all grades. This "Gothic" bust of the queen was used on the cent and ten cents and a more conventional bare bust on the five, twenty and fifty cents.
Recorded mintage: 300,000 + proofs, a better date.
Specification: 2.72 g, 0.800 fine silver, 17.8 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-6.3.
- Michael, Thomas, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1701-1800, 7th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2016.
- Illustrated Catalog of Hong Kong Currency, Hong Kong: Mars Numismatic Co., 2012.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 39, featuring the John Sylvester, Jr., Collection of Annamese Medals and Orders, Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2020.
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