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DrDarryl's Blog

04 Dec 2021

US Mint and its Hawaii Related Issues

Coins | DrDarryl

US Mint and its Hawaii Related Issues

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29 Jun 2017

Discovery: 1997 Princess Ka'iulani 1/10 oz Gold Hapaumi Repunched Date

Exonumia | DrDarryl

I'm working a side project to catalog the Royal Hawaiian Mint issues relating to Crown Princess Ka'iulani of the Kingdom Hawai'i. This catalog is roughly 90% complete. However, I spotted what seems to be a new variety being listed at an online auction website. I purchased this specimen to confirm and document this variety. I was right. I spotted this repunched date a mile away (auction image was not of high quality). I snapped a few close-up pictures after I received the specimen. This is the second repunched date identified in the Crown Princess Ka'iulani of the Kingdom Hawai'i issues by the Royal Hawaiian Mint.

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11 Jun 2017

Research Knowledge Discovery - King Kalakaua 1 Coronation Medal

Exonumia | DrDarryl

I just submitted a US copyright on an article discussing a research find I made. For those who are familiar with my discovery models, this find adds a new piece of knowledge to the King Kalakaua 1 Coronation Medal knowledge domain.Background:The 1882 dated King Kalakaua 1 coronation medal has befuddled Hawaiian numismatics for decades due to its unknown mintage, designer and manufacturer. This medal is identified as:2RM-9 (Hawaiian Money Standard Catalog 1991 Second Edition by Donald Medcalf & Ronald Russell)RM-7 (Hawaiian Money Standard catalog 1978 First Edition by Donald Medcalf & Ronald Russell)108 (Hawaiian Coins, Tokens and Paper Money1961 Revised Second Edition by Maurice and Kenneth Bressett)9A (Hawaiian Money and Medals 1967 by Gordon Medcalf and Robert Fong)Research Find:My research has identified the designer and manufacturer, but not the mintage of the 1882 dated King Kalakaua 1 coronation medal. Hawaii specialist know that this medal is rare, especially in uncirculated grades.Attached are the first two pages of the copyrighted article. The key items of the research Intellectual Property (IP) has been redacted, but one partial image reveals an exact description of the 1882 dated King Kalakaua 1 coronation medal. This is the key piece of knowledge that is part of this "research discovery".One last thing, a new metal composition of 2RM-9 has been discovered !!!!.

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16 Jan 2017

Medals of the US Submarine Verterans of World War II

Exonumia | DrDarryl

I would never have made the connection of these medal to Hawaii without the COA (struck by Hawaii Pacific Mint for Dolphin Medallions. Apparently, the United States Submarine Veterans of World War II had these medals made for the group. The group has disbanded due to the low remaining WWII survivors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Submarine_Veterans_of_World_War_III purchased them medal at separate times and I keep looking for them to add to my collection.Those members still surviving have move on to another group. https://www.ussvi.org/home.asp

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13 Jan 2017

I Found Gold in the Total Eclipse of the Sun !

Exonumia | DrDarryl

This is an interesting error discovery I made in which I documented roughly 3 years ago. The medal was struck by the Honolulu Mint for the Bishop Museum and sold as a commemorative event medal that celebrates the total eclipse of the sun in Hawaii on July 11, 1991. The error is in the stated metal fineness. On the silver medal is the text ".999 GOLD". The initials "SL" stands for Steven Lee (the designer)From my research, I surmise that a GOLD die was switched in for use and the mistake was caught. However, few GOLD errors slipped through. I also did not find any documented evidence that a large (39.2m) 'eclipse' gold medals struck by the Honolulu Mint for the Bishop Museum nor any being sold by the Bishop Museum.I really did find gold (error text) in the Total Eclipse of the Sun (silver medal) !

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07 Jan 2017

Visually Searching for Ice Cream

Exonumia | DrDarryl

In 2016, I won an online auction relating to an ice cream token. The seller hinted it was from Hawaii and I knew the seller was located in Hawaii as I had previous dealings with him. The text on the token does not mention Hawaii or a city in Hawaii, thus began my search. Normally, a pre-purchase prerequisite that I perform is to locate the numismatic item in a catalog or guidebook. This ice cream token was not listed in my copy of the Hawaiian Money Standard Catalog by Medcalf & Russell. Anyway, I took a chance and made the purchase.My numismatic search began while the token was in transit to me. I started to search various Hawaii sources. The key words I was searching with was "Velvet Ice Cream" which led me to an organization named "Honolulu Dairymen's Association". This is were the fun began. I started to search periodicals for my designated keywords from earliest to the latest in time. I found images relating to the keywords as early as 1915. My big break came when I visually noticed the font used on the word "Dairymen's" matched the ice cream token and a 1927 Hawaii advertisement. My visual search eventually led to the logo match of the keywords "Dairymen's Velvet Ice Cream" in a 1935 Hawaii advertisement.I included images of my search results. The Honolulu Dairymen's Association Ice cream token was highly likely used as early as the mid-20's to late as the late 30's in Hawaii on the island of Oahu.

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06 Jan 2017

Crown Princess Victoria Kaiulani

Exonumia | DrDarryl

The exquisite design of Crown Princess Victoria Kaiulani of the Kingdom of Hawaii on the Reginald Huth pattern medal was replicated by the Royal Hawaiian Mint starting in 1991 on several of its coin issues. It has been one of their most popular coin design.Currently, the only reference source that catalogs a few of these coins is Krause Publication, Unusual World Coins: Companion Volume to the Standard Catalog of World of World Coins.There is a need for a catalog of the Princess Kaiulani. I've started to catalog these issues in a draft book. I've been receiving interest in my draft book. I've basically cataloged each of the known Royal Hawaiian Mint issues and is currently looking for images of specific specimens (not held in my wife's collection). I'm also searching for issues that I have not cataloged. (The Royal Hawaiian Mint had an online catalog (MS Excel spreadsheet of all their issues at one time. This database is known as "Waifs in Gold Boots".)As of today, I checked when was last time I opened this draft book (word file) and it was in July 2016. I placed a sample page of the book in this blog.There is a video that was made of the Princess Kaiulani gold crowns. Video Link -->> Princess Kaiulani Gold Crowns

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05 Jan 2017

Hawaii the 49th State

Exonumia | DrDarryl

One of my passions is Hawaii statehood medals,which includes the Hawaii the 49th state medals!The Territory of Hawaii was vying to be the 49th state to join the United States of America. As you well know Alaska became the 49th state and soon afterwards Hawaii became the 50th state.There was a period of time where many individuals and organizations believed Hawaii was to be the 49th State.Today, there are numismatic reminders of this period: So-Called Dollars HK-722 (nickel-silver), HK-722a (bright bronze), and HK-722b (antique bronze) varieties. These So-Called Dollars is available in two forms (if you can find them): Original and Holed. I believed holed specimens were created after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act on July 7, 1958 allowing Alaska to become the 49th state on January 3. 1959. The holed specimens were in reaction to this event and was one method to physically obliviate Hawaii's 49th state bid from the medal (the other was to destroy the medal in its entirety). But why waste a medal? Just drill a hole to remove the 49th...This is were an issue arises. As you should be aware NGC implements Details Grading for holed specimens. As a result, the NGC population for the HK-722 varieties are ridiculously low for original (unholed) specimens. The NGC population are:HK-722 population is 1.HK-722a population is 4.HK-722b population is 0.Original unholed specimens are a rarity. So much so that in the Hibler Kappen book, So-Called Dollars: An Illustrated Standard Catalog, its HK-722 plate "con" is a holed specimen.In my included images, you will see an image with 5 specimens in my collection:HK-722 - Two holed nickel-silver specimensHK-722a - Two original bright bronze specimensHK-722b - One original antique bronze specimenUnfortunately, my original HK-722b received a NGC Details grade due to surface damage from bronze disease.Another interesting image is the original printing of the Hawaii 49th State brochure in my Hawaii statehood collection. I've only seen one other copy and it was in the National Archives. (link to the copy)

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30 Dec 2016

1918 Mid-Pacific Carnival Gold Medal from Honolulu, Hawaii

Exonumia | DrDarryl

While searching for information relating to the Honolulu (Aloha) Carnival Dollar (so-called dollar HK-721, aka Hawaii medal 2M-329) (possible future blog entry), I came upon an interesting 1918 Mid-Pacific Carnival gold medal:

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24 Dec 2016

Hawaii So-Called 50c: Low Volcano vs High Volcano Variety Discovery

Exonumia | DrDarryl

This blog entry was updated 12/28/2016 (as seen with italicized text).

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