The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 44, October 28, 2007, Article 20

QUIZ ANSWER: UMI KENETA

Richard Doty, Pete Smith and Neil Shafer were all quick to 
provide the answer to last week's quiz question. I asked, 
"What coin bears the denomination "Uni Keneta", and who 
designed it?" The answer is the Hawaiian dollar of 1883, 
designed by Charles Barber. Gar Travis and Marc Charles 
Ricard also knew the answer.

However, your fat-fingered editor introduced a typo so 
technically, the rest of you can get points for NOT answering. 
Neil was the only one to notice that the denomination is "UMI 
Keneta", not "UNI Keneta". I thought of the question while 
reading the Hawaii chapter of Roger deWardt Lane's dime book, 
quoted below:

"The Hawaiian dime is the only other country in addition to 
the original United States of America to carry the denomination 
of one dime. There is however a second denomination; umi keneta, 
in the native Hawaiian language." 
Full Story

Gar Travis writes: "I wrote the following description of 
the coin and use it in my work: Designed by Charles E. 
Barber in 1881 the Hawaiian One Dime was part of a five 
coin series that saw use in the islands until the islands 
became a territory of the United States. The islands were 
annexed by the United States in 1898; however the coins 
circulated until 1900. Circulation business strikes were 
minted at the San Francisco Mint (without mintmark) from 
November 17, 1883 through June 1884 (all dated 1883). Of 
the 250,000 business strikes minted, 79 were melted. The 
reverse legend UA MAU KE EA O KA AINA I KA PONO means: 
The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness."

Marc Charles Ricard forwarded the following from a November 
19, 1989 New York Times article by Jed Stevenson: "In 1880, 
Hawaii's monarch, King Kalakaua, authorized a new coinage - 
one that more closely followed United States coinage. His 
associate Klaus Spreckels contracted the United States Mint 
to produce silver coins for the islands: 700,000 half-dollars, 
500,000 each of quarters and silver dollars and 250,000 dimes. 
The total was $1 million worth of Hawaiian coins. 

"Spreckels made a small fortune acting as the middle man 
so it is not too surprising that all the coins depicted a 
portrait of King Kalakaua. The coin was designed by Charles 
E. Barber, one of America's most famous coin designers. 
The obverse has the legend ''Kalakaua I King of Hawaii.'' 

"The reverse of all the coins, except the dime, shows the 
royal coat of arms and the value of the coin denoted in 
fractions, such as 1/4 D. for a quarter dollar. 

The Hawaiian motto ''Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono'' 
ran around the top of the reverse. In English, the phrase 
means ''the life of the land is in righteousness''. 

The reverse of the dime stated simply ''One Dime.'' 
Translated into the Hawaiian it is ''Uni Keneta''."

To read the original New York Times article on 
Hawaiian coinage, see: 
New York Times article on Hawaiian coinage

[This was the first mention I recall of the involvement 
of San Francisco sugar magnate Klaus Spreckels in the 
production of Hawaiian coinage. Does anyone know if this 
connection has been written up elsewhere? -Editor]

QUIZ QUESTION: UMI KENETA
esylum_v10n42a25.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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