Hong Kong One Cent Coin 1863 Queen Victoria
The inscriptions bearing on the obverse of this coin are Victoria Queen crowned bust left [Type 1]. There are fourteen pearls on the left arch of the crown (fifteen in Type 2).
On the reverse of this coin are four Chinese characters means Hong Kong one cent, in the center of a beaded circle. Characters HONG - KONG above and ONE CENT 1863 below the circle.
Diametr: 27 mm
Weight: 7.5 g
Engraver William Wyon (William Wyon RA [Birmingham 1795 – 29 October 1851], was official chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1828 until his death.)
People of Hong Kong always took this type of coins into the adjacent Kwangtung territory, where they were often sold at the rate of seven or eight hundred for a silver dollar. This western style coinage in Hongkong directly influenced the Chinese mint authority in Kwangtung Province, they decided to mint the copper coin "T'ung Yuan" in order to solve the problem of the shortage of the copper cash in circulation in Kwangtung Province.
The First Hong Kong Coins
As a result of the Treaty of Nanking, Hong Kong became a British Colony in 1841, but the Hong Kong's own coinage did not come into existence until 23 years later. Sir Hercules Robinson, the Fifth Governor of Hong Kong [1859-1865]. who declared that the commencement of Hongkong's own coinage on 16th February 1864. Though Royal Proclamation had already granted the use of the new coinage in Hong Kong on 9th January 1863.
Before Hong Kong had her own coinage, Hong Kong currency followed the British sterling system with an official gold standard. Although it was unworkable for the trading economy between Hong Kong and Mainland China at that time. Later, as the traders and settlers of Hong Kong were accustomed to the Chinese system of using weighed silver as money, Hong Kong monetary authority had to change its currency standard from gold to silver in order to secure a better trading relationship with the Chinese in Kwangtung Province. So that the using of Hong Kong daily currencies tended to similarity with Mainland China. Traders and settlers of Hong Kong used Spanish or Mexican eight Reales silver coins and Chinese silver bars or ingots for large amount of transactions and used Chinese copper cash, as well as the Indian or British low denomination silver, copper coins for the small payment.
The Official Exchange Rate:
1 Pound Sterling = 5 Mexican Dollars
1 Mexican Dollar = 2 and 1/4 Indian Rupees
1 Mexican Dollar = 1200 Copper cash
The issuing of Hong Kong first coinage were in three denominations including a silver ten cents, a copper cent and a copper mil. All three types of coin were minted in England, but were designed for use in Hong Kong. The value of each coin was denoted in both Chinese and English.
The Hong Kong One Cent Coin
The one-cent coin, introduced in 1863, was the smallest-denomination coin of the Hong Kong dollar from 1866 to 1941. Coins were minted irregularly. The last issue was mostly lost because of World War II. It had two different sizes, the larger one was replaced in 1931.
The initial coin was 17 mm in diammeter, 1.8 mm thick and weighed 7.53 grams. The obverse featured the reigning British monarch: it was introduced under Queen Victoria and later featured Edward VII and George V. Like the smaller version issued beginning 1932, it was made of bronze. The smaller version started under George V, the final issue in 1941 was the only one to feature George VI. The royal titles were written in the English language, as opposed to the Latin written on British coins. While the monarchs wore crowns on the coins, it was not until the decimalisation of the British pound in 1971 that they would wear crowns on British coins.