20 Cents - Elizabeth II 2nd portrait

Hong Kong's currency remained under British colonial administration throughout this period, with the Hong Kong dollar pegged informally to the U.S. dollar by the late 1970s before the formal linked exchange rate was established in 1983 — the final year of this issue. The colony's rapid industrialization during these decades meant genuine demand for small-denomination coinage in daily commerce, and these pieces circulated hard.

Effigy by Arnold Machin, whose second portrait of Elizabeth II appeared on coinage across numerous Commonwealth territories from the late 1960s onward.