Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Dollar British Trade Dollar
| Issuer | Royal Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 1895-1935 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Silver (.900) |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central field features a circular shou (longevity) medallion motif, rendered in a decorative Chinese artistic style, framed within a four-lobed cartouche formed by stylised cloud scrolls. The Chinese character 壹 (one) appears at the top of the cartouche and 圓 (yuan/dollar) at the bottom, while Jawi script reading ساتو رڠڬية (Satu Ringgit, meaning One Ringgit) is inscribed to the left. The entire central device is surrounded by a continuous meander (Greek key) border pattern, with an inner beaded border, reflecting the coin's intended multicultural trade circulation across East and Southeast Asia. |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
The British Trade Dollar was introduced specifically to compete with the American, Mexican, and various European trade dollars circulating across East and Southeast Asian ports, where merchants weighed and tested coins rather than accepting them at face value. The Royal Mint struck these at Bombay and later at the King's Norton private mint in Birmingham, not in London — a logistical concession to the trade routes they were designed to serve.
Production halted definitively in 1935 as silver-based trade coinage became untenable across Asian markets. The Straits Settlements had already moved away from reliance on the type by that point.