gxseries Posted December 11, 2017 Report Share Posted December 11, 2017 This is one of the projects that had to be done by this year for a good reason. Some may have been reading the news and it's history. It is Hong Kong 20th anniversary hand over to China. Hong Kong used to be under the British rule from 1841 to 1997. During this time, Hong Kong was home to various foreign coinage as Hong Kong was a vital trading port. A new mint was established and opened in 1866. This only lasted for two years as the public perception of such coins was deemed to be poor. Ironically the same equipment that was sold off to Osaka Mint was more successful a couple years later. Coins later were struck in England. Various coins were struck with the English Monarch and eventually Queen Elizabeth's portrait had to go. Some of the latest Hong Kong coins are interesting as they come in scallop shape. With such interesting history - there's no reason why you can't be tempted in a type set in this. Dansco actually has made one about 50 years ago and it needed an update really badly. Plus I didn't quite agree with the overall presentation. Just missing one coin but it's good enough for me. Presenting you the latest digital Hong Kong type set album: https://issuu.com/gxseries/docs/hong_kong_type_album_1863_present This as usual proved to be harder than expected for the following reason (I'll leave the key dates last) 1) Timeline of Hong Kong coinage. Some denominations do overlap in odd eras. I personally found the 1890 - 1894 50 cents, 1982 - 1984 10 cents, 1980 - 1984 5 dollars to be out of line. 2) 1931 to 1941 must have been a chaotic time. Many different type of coins, not including the rare 1941 1 cent coin 3) Photoshop wise... try to do a decagon shape or a scallop shape. Not fun cropping. 4) Lastly - of course finding the coins. Mind you - I've tried hard to obtain them at a reasonable cost. Most of them are actually very affordable with the exception of the silver 50 cents and the large silver dollar coin. I was lucky to obtain a fair number of them including the Dansco type set album a while back. On the topic of rarity according to my opinion / experience (excluding 1941 1 cent) 1) 1866 - 1868 1/2 dollar: Total mintage figure at just mere 59,000 (!!!) 2) 1866 - 1868 1 dollar 3) 1902 - 1905 20 cents. Strangely while mintage figures seem to be reasonably high, this coin rarely appear in the market. In fact, it's much harder to find compared to the 1866 - 1868 dollar coins. Why? 4) 1935 5 cents. Mintage figure does not seem to make this rare but it's unusually hard to find. The rest are a lot easier to find. Now if you ask me what my favorite Hong Kong coin is, it would be the scallop 2 dollar coin. This is one of the first Hong Kong coins that I believe I got from my dad from a business trip that I remembered vividly along with the 20 cents coin. I liked the thick 5 dollar and the bi metal 10 dollar but ultimate it's the shape that fancied me as a kid. My good friend also gave me one a while back. Please feel free to post your Hong Kong coins! I predict there will be a large surge in search on ebay for Hong Kong coins the next few weeks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Congrats, GX! The link you posted redirects to this page! I'd love to see the collection! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jokerman Posted December 19, 2017 Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 Dont click on it, copy it and paste it in a new window. BTW! I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted December 19, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2017 My bad - didn't realize the link did not work, thedeadpoint. Thanks for letting me know. It's fixed now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedeadpoint Posted December 20, 2017 Report Share Posted December 20, 2017 That's excellently done, GX. I know it takes a lot of work to collect the coins, photograph them, and make that album. Seeing all of the coins side by side gives me a much greater appreciation of the coinage metal colors, the sizes, the shapes, etc. Two follow-on questions: 1) I know that it wouldn't have the veracity of an album, but did you ever consider having the obverse and reverse on the same "page" so you can see both at the same time? 2) Have you considered selling your services to make similar books for other people? TDP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gxseries Posted December 20, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 20, 2017 Thanks for your kind words thedeadpoint. I guess to answer your first question - there's sites that kinda already do it but it's doable. For instance numista.com, omnicoin.com. Of course they aren't very customized. Second question - if there's demand, yes I can always do it. Anything can be done with any world coins, US, Canadian, German, French, Italian, Chinese etc. You name it. I can even be very selective and pick the era, type, etc. It could be just US copper type set, nickel, silver - you name it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ccg Posted December 23, 2017 Report Share Posted December 23, 2017 Lovely pieces! For modern circulation, I find that the 1993 steel HK$1 is a bit of a challenge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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