2017-08-17 Thu

The Stack’s Bowers Galleries had the top lot of the ANA auctions when the Lord St. Oswald-Norweb 1794 Flowing Hair dollar, graded Mint State 64, brought $ 2.82 million during the Rarities Night sale, the various other sessions had a host of fascinating collections with reasonable price tags. The one that was unique was the Rainbow Falls Collection of scarce and fascinating Hawaiian numismatic items.

Coins from Hawaii are widely collected. King Kamehameha III issued a Cent that was not popular with merchants but was well suited as a souvenir.

Silver coins were struck for the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1883, designed by Charles Barber and were struck at the San Francisco Mint. Hawaii’s King Kal?kaua and the kingdom’s coat of arms were depicted on the obverse of Dimes, quarter dollars, half dollars and dollars. The coins enjoyed local circulation for many decades, but in 1904 they lost their legal tender status and by 1907 most had been exchanged for silver at the San Francisco Mint.

The remaining Hawaiian coins were used to make jewelry and were used as keepsakes of the Kingdom of Hawaii, with enamelled coins, pins, watch fobs, belts, hat pins and other decorative items.

The Rainbow Falls collection included pieces of Hawaiian coins that were made into jewelry, including a woman’s belt crafted using 24 1883 Hawaiian coins — 21 quarter dollars, a single half dollar, and two dollars. Each coin is attached to one another by four loops and a single link of a silver chain, with the buckle fashioned from two dollars. Several of the coins are enameled to highlight the Hawaiian coat of arms. The description stated that the coins were of nice quality and belt was operating properly.

Also, on the menu was a napkin ring made from 1847 Hawaiian cents. They were soldered together at their edges to give it a shape of a ring, measuring 40 millimetres in diameter that sold for $493.50.

Making their presence felt at the collection were five enamelled 1883 Hawaiian dollars that sold from $111.63 to $329 each and several impressive antique silver coin spoons with enameled Hawaiian coins in the dish of the spoon. The costliest of the spoons was a 136-millimeter long spoon, weighing 26.3 grams with a stem topped by a full-length uniface image of King Kamehameha I facing half left. The bowl featured a richly enameled 1883 Hawaii half-dollar with the inscription UNIVERSITY CLUB / FEBRUARY – 2 – 1906 around the coin. The curious decorative spoon sold for $446.50.

Coins representing the highest grades of the grading service registry sets mostly capture headlines, there’s also a good market for lowball sets of problem free Poor 1 coins. An 1883 Hawaiian dollar graded Poor 1 by Professional Coin Grading Service from the Rainbow Falls Collection sold for $376.

From high-end rarities to enameled coins to “lowball” grade rarities, the ANA sales have something for everyone.