Brief History Of The British Trade Dollar(1895-1935)

Posted by slang on December 19, 2008

During the 19th century, the Mexican Dollar replaced the Spanish Dollar as the major coin in circulation in the British Colonies of Straits Settlement, Hong Kong and others. Due to the over-reliances on these foreign coins, from 1842 to 1863, many traders whether private or official bodies petititoned to the British Government for the introduction of a Dollar coin and subsidiary silver and copper coins for general trade in the Far East.

The year 1875 to 1895 saw a rapid fall in silver prices which apart from disrupting trade also resulted in a very serious shortage of minted dollars. To overcome these shortage, approval was given in 1894 to produce a special British Dollar for general use in the Far East. In 1895, this coin was given legal status in the British Colonies of Straits Settlements, Hong Kong and Labuan.

The dies were prepared by G.W.De Saulles, engraver of the Royal Mint, London and the coins were struck at Bombay, Calcuta and the Royal Mint ,London and distributed mainly through the banks at Hong Kong, Singapore, Penang and Shanghai.

Details of the British Trade Dollars:

Minted at:

• Bombay Mint, India-Incuse “B” mint mark in the centre prong of the trident in Britannia’s hand (Missing on some of the1895,1897 an 1898 coins)
• Calcutta Mint, India-Incuse “C” mint mark on the ground between the left foot of Brittania and the base of the shield(missing on some 1900 coins)
• Royal Mint, London-No mint mark. Only the 1925 and 1930 issues were minted here.

Details:

Edge: Milled ; Weight: 29.95 grammes; Diameter: 39mm; Thickness:2.95mm and composition: silver.900 fine

Obverse: Shows a helmeted Britannia standing looking to the left, her right hand grasping a trident and her left hand resting on an oval shield bearing the united crosses of Saint George of England, Saint Andrew of Scotland and Saint Patrick of Ireland. A sailing ship is in the distance. ONE DOLLAR is above and te date below. The whole encircled by a Chinese scroll “key” pattern border.

Reverse: Shows a Chinese labyrinth encircled by four compartments containing the Chinese characters YEE YUAN(One Dollar) and in the left and right compartments, the Arabic characters reading SATU RINGGIT(One Dollar). The whole encircled by a Chinese scrol key pattern border.

Check other articles on Overdates; Rare Dates and forgery/fake coins ( 2 articles) of the British Trade Dollar coin.

Comments

1. I have one of that coin, how much that coin, if u wil buy it from me? says:

   March 2, 2009 at 7:39 am

   I have one of that coin, if u wil buy it from me, what is its cost?
2. walter says:

   September 10, 2009 at 7:39 pm

   i have a 1912 coin too how much is it worth and who could buy it