1 Dollar    (sold for $104.0)

1898-(B), Great Britain/Hong Kong/Asia. British Silver Trade Dollar ($1) Coin.

Mint Year: 1898
Mint Place: Bombay (B)
Denomination: Trade Dollar
Reference: Davenport 407, KM-T5.
Condition: Scratches, digs and hairlines, otherwise aXF/XF+
Material: Silver (.900)
Weight: 26.89gm
Diameter: 39mm

Obverse: Britannia standing on shore, holding a trident and British shield. A a merchant ship under full sail in the background.
Comment: Apparently the incuse mint letter (B) inside the trident is here not applied, which is considered RARE!
Legend: ONE DOLLAR / 1898

Reverse: Arabesque design with the Chinese symbol for longevity in the center, and the denomination in two languages - Chinese and Jawi Malay.

With the extension of British trading interest's in the East, especially after the founding of Singapore in 1819 and Hong Kong in 1842, it became necessary to produce a special Dollar so as to remove the reliance of a British Colony upon the various foreign coins then in circulation.

The British Trade Dollar was minted from 1895 for Hong Kong and the Straits Settlements. But after the Straits dollar was introduced to the Straits Settlements in 1903, it became exclusively a Hong Kong coin, with the last being produced in 1935. Those with the mint mark "B" were produced at the Bombay mint; others, marked "C", were struck in Calcutta.