Holey dollar

The resulting shortage of money in PEI prompted the governor in 1813 to gather in all the Spanish dollars he could and have their centres punched out.

One of the first attempts to restrict the practice was by Governor King, who on 19 November 1800 set an arbitrary price for foreign coinage, but there was never enough of it.

These coins to the value of 40,000 Spanish dollars came on 26 November 1812 on HMS Samarang from Madras,[5] via the East India Company.

[6] With the shipment of currency were strict instructions to prevent the newly arrived coinage from leaving the country, so after consultation with the Judge Advocate and other officials,[7] Governor Macquarie had a convicted forger named William Henshall cut the centres out of the coins and counter stamp them,[2] thus making them useless outside the colony.

This distinguished the coins as belonging to the colony of New South Wales, creating the first official currency produced specifically for circulation in NSW.

[8] On 1 July 1813 Governor Macquarie issued a proclamation "that the said Silver Money shall be a legal Tender" and that set their value.

[6] By the time the holey dollar was finally demonetised in 1829, most of the 40,000 coins in circulation had been exchanged for legal tender and melted down into bullion.

[11][12][13] One of the most notable holey dollars is the Hannibal Head, a one of a kind coin that features the portrait of King Joseph I of Spain.

It was found in 1881 alongside other holey dollars in what is believed to be a Bushrangers hoard in Tasmania and has since been held in private collections.