However, a number of these coins bearing the year 1993 were minted, partly for the purpose of testing and partly for inclusion in presentation sets of Hong Kong coins for that year.

As the above table indicates, neither of these coins was officially issued until 1994. Two even rarer items are the 1993 ten dollar Bauhinia coin and the 1993 ten cent Bauhinia coin (see photographs below). In the end, we decided against the use of steel plating for the one dollar coin, but not until after the issue of a certain number of these coins. This is because an attempt was made in that year to use a more economical, steel plated coin for the one dollar denomination, as against the more expensive cupro-nickel coin that has been in circulation since 1960. Only one in every hundred one dollar Bauhinia coins has this quality.

If you find a 1993 one dollar Bauhinia coin that can be picked up by a magnet, hold on to it. There are two further matters of interest to the serious coin collector. Where they are still out there in the hands of members of the public, they have become collectors' items and are rarely circulated. This is because, in accordance with the Sino-British Joint Declaration, they have been 'progressively replaced and withdrawn from circulation'. The first issues of the Bauhinia coins are, of course, in abundant supply, but the last issues of the Queen's Head coins, and indeed the Queen's Head coins of any year, have become quite rare. Last year of issue of the Queen's Head coinsįirst year of issue of the Bauhinia coins

Old coins worth money