Hong Kong’s old coins and banknotes may yield windfall as collectors savor city’s treasure trove
- A 1-mil coin minted in 1863 for Hong Kong would be valued at HK$1,000 today, about a million times its face value
- A HK$5 banknote issued by the Oriental Bank Corporation on 1 June 1860 was sold at a record £130,000 (US$157,503/HK$1.24 million) via auction in August last year
The very first coin issued in Hong Kong during Queen Victoria’s reign had a face value of 1 mil, or 0.1 Hong Kong cent, an amount that was enough to buy a bowl of porridge or a piece of bread in 1863.
That coin would be worth about HK$1,000 today, about a million times more than the face value of the original coin, said Cheng Po-hung, who has run the Commonwealth Stamp and Coin Company in Sheung Wan for 30 years.
“The 1-mil Victoria is among the oldest coins in Hong Kong,” said Cheng in his antiques and bric-a-brac shop.
Cheng is among the many numismatists who revel in Hong Kong’s treasure trove of collectible coins and currency notes, contributed by the territory’s rich colonial-era history and the variety of currency issuers.
Queen Victoria’s visage first appeared on a 1-cent coin in Hong Kong in 1863, three years after the first Convention of Peking ceded Hong Kong Island to her government. The smaller 1-mil bronze coins, the most frequently used denomination by the working class, did not carry her profile as they each bore a hole in the middle, through which they were usually strung together with strings, but carried her crown and “VR” on the reverse.
