Straits Settlements 1917 20 cents
This specimen was lot 3493 in Stephen Album sale 39 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2021), where it sold for $114. The catalog description[1] noted, "STRAITS SETTLEMENTS: George V, 1910-1936, AR 20 cents, 1917-B, PCGS graded MS61." This twenty cent piece was struck in Bombay for the Straits Settlements with the portrait of George V. This denomination was originally 0.800 fine (KM 23, 1902-03), then 0.600 fine (KM 22a, 1910), then 0.400 fine (KM 30a, 1919), then back to 0.600 fine. The five and ten cents were similarly affected. This date is not common and does not display the "B" mintmark noted in the SCWC. The Straits Settlements began as a miscellaneous group of trading stations in Southeast Asia and gradually developed into what is now Malaya.
Recorded Mintage: 652,000.
Specification: 5.43 g, 0.600 fine silver, 23 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-30.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [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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