The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 6, February 10, 2008, Article 8

THE 1893 PATTERN COINAGE OF QUEEN LILLIUOCALANI OF HAWAII

While reviewing the new ebook "Money & Sovereignty as
Expressed in Gold Coinage" by Douglas A. Mudd and Michael
Fagin, I learned about Hawaiian pattern coins of 1893 such
as the Gold 20 Dala of Queen Lilliuocalani.  But I wondered
why I couldn't recall having come across these patterns
before.  I checked my copies of Metcalf-Russell's "Hawaiian
Money" and the Judd and Pollock books on U.S. Patterns,
but couldn't find anything on them.  Now Hawaii wasn't part
of the United States in 1893, but I was still surprised
not to see these listed even in an appendix.  My assumption
is that the authors didn't include these patterns because
they were not made at the U.S. Mint like the 1883 coinage
- they came from England.

"In 1893, just before the end of the Hawaiian kingdom,
several pattern coins were produced in England for Queen
Liliuocalani, Kalakaua’s sister and successor to the throne.
The 20 dala gold piece (equivalent to an American $20 Double
Eagle) featured a fine portrait of the Queen along with a
Latin inscription on the obverse (Lilliuocalani by the
grace of God) modeled on European royal coinages, and,
on the reverse, a design incorporating a crown above a
crossed scepter and a torch above a wreath of taro leaves
with the legend “Hawaiarum Regina” (Queen of Hawaii) above.
The kingdom was to last until 1893, when Queen Liliuocalani
was deposed and a pro-American provisional government was
set up, thus ending the first native attempt to adopt
European–style coinage to their own purposes." (p69)

I found only one online reference to the 1893 Gold 20 Dala
- it was included among Coin Universe's "Top 100 World and
Ancient Coins of the Millennium", an article written by
Richard Giedroyc on December 8, 1999.
Full Story

So can anyone tell us more about these patterns?  Who made
them?  How many were made?  Where can we read more about them?

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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