2021-03-09 Tue

1844 “Bernard” Money note is a rare Hawaiian currency note. It is an example of the earliest and rarest Hawaiian scrip currency.

Hawaii’s sugar industry started in 1835 on the Island of Kauai when Ladd & Company signed a lease with King Kamehameha III and then issued scrip in 1837 to pay workers. This is the earliest Hawaiian currency. The company went bankrupt and the government seized its assets. Few of these notes have been survived.

1844 “Bernard” Money is the finest of only five or six known. John Bernard and an Englishman leased 150 acres of land in Hanalei, Kauai, from the Hawaiian government. Bernard had USD 850 worth of notes printed by the Lahainaluna Seminary with “Bernard” counter-printed on them.

This uniface banknote is the only known Hookahi dollar which depicts a map of the Hawaiian Islands and a flag.

Image Courtesy: coinworld.com