Royal Hawaiian Mint

Repunched Date – 1996 Princess Kaiulani Gold Hapaha

/ DrDarryl

The US Postmaster at my local  Post Office handed me my latest acquisition today. A rarely seen Royal Hawaiian Mint 1996 Gold and Silver Proof set. Only 250 sets were assembled. The key coin in this set is the 1996 Princess Kaiulani Gold Hapaha. Below is my new set.

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The images below are 60X magnification of the year 1996 on my specimen. Notice the multiple 1996?  Focus on the main number 1. Look to the right and see two images of 1’s. You can also see the doubling on the number 6.  Also, both 9’s have a thickness. No other parts of the coin show these symptoms.

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This date doubling can also be seen on two other 1996 Gold Hapaha specimens. (Click image to enlarge).

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Here is the last Gold  Hapaha specimen.

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These 3 specimens are the same and have confirmed a repunched date.  There are no other doubling symptoms on the obverse.

This is a great find as this is the first documented minting process error from the Royal Hawaiian Mint.     Set number 89 is the discovery set for this error.

Design Recognition – 1991 Kaiulani Mahalo Mintliner Award Medal

/ DrDarryl

Just a note about my recent acquisition of the 1991 Kaiulani “Mahalo Mintliner Award” medal. I was rather surprised that many of the RHM collectors stayed away and did not bid on this medal.

First, it was not listed in the RHM publicly available information and may have been the primary reason for the low bidding activity.

Second, “mahalo” is thank you in the Hawaiian language. The medal is thanking someone.

Third, the term “mintliner” makes no sense and may have kept away bidders. However, you can derive a meaning if you think “headliner”. As a “mintliner”, one can see it as getting your mint recognized among all mints or peers in the minting business.
Fourth, the term “award” means the medal is being awarded to someone.

Fifth, the full name of the RHM mint master, Bernard Von NotHaus, is on the medal. The medal is being awarded to him or with his approval to a recipient (most likely employees of RHM). In either case, the mintage would be small and not sold to the general public.

Lastly, I know the reverse design. It was used previously on a larger coin. If collectors recognized it, bidding activity may have been stronger. See the images (note the decorative design in the center top and bottom).

Design Recognition - 1991 Kaiulani Mahalo Mintliner Award Medal