A well-intentioned eBay seller accidently sent me a shipment of Hawai'ian coins. I was permitted to keep them in return for referring to him as a "well-intentioned eBay seller." And yet I still have little idea of what they are. I have a replica of a coin minted by the Republic of Hawaii, but that's labeled as such. (A pity, a genuine version in this condition could catch a good amount of money) The other two are similar in color to the US dollar coin, but the size of a US silver dollar. One is a "Kona Dollar" dated 1982, with Kona Coast Chamber of Commerce on the opposite side. The second is only slightly larger than the first, inscribed as a "Maui Dollar" and Lahaina First Capital. The opposite side states "MAUI NO KA OI" and "THE VALLEY ISLE" with the Iao Needle on it. There does not appear to be a date on this one. Internet searches didn't turn up much useful information about these two, so I'm hoping somebody here is familiar with these.
If I remember correctly they make these in Hawaii every year. There is a name for them but danged if I can think of it right now. In effect - they are local currency issued by a business or sometimes an organization. They can only be spent in that local area - just like you do with regular money. And sometimes they even have expiration dates. In years past, coins like this used to be known as "so called dollars" and sometimes "good for tokens". But the idea was always the same. Since they were only issued in one place - and could only be spent in one place - they allowed a community to keep their money in their community.
GD is correct. The Maui dollars are usually good for one year only and only in certain places on Maui. The Maui dollars come out every year. Joel Anderson is one place on the net that sells them so you could possibly get more info there and see how much it is going for. I guess you could consider them tokens? This may help some. http://www.mauivisitor.com/ad_shop_mauitradedollars.html Aloha, John aka cush66
The Maui tokens would be regarded as being exonumia or paranumismatics.The Calgary Stampede $1 tokens also fit into this catagory.
