Coins of the Hawaiian dollar

In 1847, the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, under the reign of King Kamehaheha III, issued its first official coinage—a large one-cent copper penny—to alleviate the chronic shortage of small denomination coins circulating in the Hawaiian Islands.

Coined money was in great demand in the Hawaiian Islands and was in continual shortage in the early nineteenth century.

As the Hawaiian Treasury was in shortage of funds during this period, the copper cent was seen as an initial "affordable" issue to be followed by other denominations at a later date.

On 3 May 1847 the merchant ship Montreal arrived in Honolulu after sailing from Boston via Rio de Janeiro, Cape Horn and Tahiti.

In addition, the Keneta also arrived worn or discolored by the humidity and bilge water of the Montreal, in whose hold they had spent many months.

Local merchants, who were "against very small transactions," immediately voiced their objections to the coins; and the only general usage witnessed was by governors of the outer islands who used them as change when collecting duties and taxes.

There are two different obverse varieties: one shows a Plain 4 in the date, while the other has a "Crosslet" 4 (with a vertical bar at the right end of the horizontal line).

King Kalākaua I was pleased with the idea of independent coinage for his Kingdom that he ordered patterns for the new coin to be struck.

official version Mintages of the Hawaiian coins, and the numbers melted by the United States government following their demonetization in 1903, are as follows: In addition, 26 proof sets were made for presentation to dignitaries.

The reverse shows a beehive in the center with the issuer's name at top and "HALE MAIKAI" - meaning house excellent, or a good place to do business - below.