Straits Settlements 1920 5 cents KM-34
This specimen was lot 3485 in Stephen Album sale 39 (Santa Rosa, CA, January 2021), where it sold for $228. The catalog description[1] noted, "STRAITS SETTLEMENTS: George V, 1910-1936, 5 cents, 1920, one-year type, PCGS graded MS62." This five cent piece was struck for the Straits Settlements with the portrait of George V. This denomination was originally 0.800 fine (KM 20, 1902-03), then 0.600 fine (KM 20a, 1910), then 0.400 fine (KM 31, 1918-20), then back to 0.600 fine (KM 36, 1926 and 1935). The twenty and ten cents were similarly affected. This copper-nickel type was struck between KM 31 and KM 36. The Straits Settlements began as a miscellaneous group of trading stations in Southeast Asia and gradually developed into what is now Malaya.
Recorded Mintage: 20,000,000 plus proofs plus 4,000,000 of KM 31 (silver).
Specification: copper-nickel, 20 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-34.
- 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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