The one-dollar coin is the fourth-highest and fourth-lowest denomination coin of the

Hong Kong dollar The Hong Kong dollar (, currency symbol, sign: HK$; ISO 4217, code: HKD) is the official currency of the Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is subdivided into 100 cent (currency), cents or 1000 Mill (currency), mils. The H ...

History

It was first issued in 1866 as a

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

coin of a diameter of 38 mm, a mass of 26.96 grams and a thickness of 2.80 mm. This issue lasted only three years with a reported mintage of 2,109,000 coins in total; separate statistics of each year's mintage are unavailable. The second introduction of a dollar coin was started in 1960 as a copper-nickel coin of 30 mm in diameter, 2.25 mm thick, and weighing 11.66 g. The circulation of this coin was ended in 1978 with the issuance of a smaller coin of 25.50 mm in diameter, 1.95 mm thickness and weighing 7.10 g. All issues up to 1992 featured

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

on the obverse with the inscription ''QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND''. The reverse featured the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

words for 圓 (''yùhn'') one dollar, and 香港

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, as well as an image of an English crowned lion in the centre. In 1993 the portrait of Elizabeth II was replaced with the

Bauhinia ''Bauhinia'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Cercidoideae and tribe Bauhinieae, in the large flowering plant family Fabaceae, with a pantropical distribution. The genus was named after the Bauhin brothers Gaspard and Jo ...

flower, this design is used to the present day but its first year's issue was made of nickel-plated steel as opposed to cupro-nickel.http://worldcoingallery.com/countries/display.php?image=img14/84-69&desc=Hong Kong km69 1 Dollar (1993) nickel plated steel&query=Hong Kong in 1997 a commemorative issue with a

Chinese unicorn The qilin (; ) is a legendary hooved chimerical creature that appears in Chinese mythology, and is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. Qilin are a specific type of the mythological family of o ...

, the

Qilin The qilin (; ) is a legendary hooved chimerical creature that appears in Chinese mythology, and is said to appear with the imminent arrival or passing of a sage or illustrious ruler. Qilin are a specific type of the mythological family of on ...

on the reverse was issued for the handover of Hong Kong to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Mintage

Mintmarks * H = Heaton * KN = King's Norton

References

* Ma Tak Wo 2004, Illustrated Catalogue of Hong Kong Currency, Ma Tak Wo Numismatic Co., LTD. Kowloon, Hong Kong. {{HK_currency_and_coinage Coins of Hong Kong One-base-unit coins