2017-08-29 Tue

Heritage Currency Signature Auction will be selling a set of six rare Hawaiian notes from 1843 to 1844 on 6th September in Long Beach, California for an opening bid of $18,000 against an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. The set is supposed to be the oldest existing Hawaiian paper currency that was issued by Lahainaluna Seminary.

Lahainaluna Seminary is a Protestant missionary school that was founded in 1831. There was no written language or an educational system in place when the founding missionaries came to Hawaii eight years earlier. They still use the same language that they had established and the seminary is now Lahainaluna High School on Maui which is the oldest public school west of the Rockies.

The Hale Pa’i, (house of printing) was built to establish Hawaii’s first printing press in 1834. The press made Bibles in English and Hawaiian, books and newspapers. It also printed Hawaii’s first paper money in 1843.

Six denominations were produced using intaglio engraving — ekolu keneta (3 cents), hapaumi ($1/16), hapawalu ($1/8), hapaha ($1/4), hapalua ($1/2), and hookahi dala ($1). It was used initially to pay students for work. The notes depicted designs that promoted the school’s curriculum: industry, law, science, geography, and education. A map of the Hawaiian Islands and the kingdom’s flag was featured on hookahi dala note.

Hawaii’s second series of notes are offered at the Auction. A student was caught for counterfeiting in 1844. The fake notes were used for their own use and looked very similar to the original notes. All the original notes were destroyed after that. The original copper plates were re-engraved with a “secret mark,” such as a small added line for each denomination. The known examples have these secret marks.