Royal Hawaiian Mint

The Mint, as it is known in Hawaii, was founded on September 11, 1974 by Bernard von NotHaus and Talena (Telle) Jay Presley while living in a little 'enchanted cottage' that they built themselves on $30 per month without electricity or a car.  In August of 1974, Bernard experienced a spiritual epiphany that yielded 200 pages of 'automatic writing' regarding the interactions of the economic, political and social systems that culminated with the publication of To Know Value an economic research paper.    In the beginning, the Mint was little more than an idea of commemorating the Hawaiian culture, minting the first coins in Hawaii and using them as barter among friends within the little community of Ahualoa on the Big Island of Hawaii.     As B & T knew nothing about minting they hitchhiked to the library in Hilo and started The NotHaus Mint, that grew to become The Hawaiian Mint and was renamed the Royal Hawaiian Mint in 1986 with six locations on the eight islands and employed a couple dozen people.  For over forty years, Hawaii’s first State registered Mint has remained true to its original dedication: To Preserve Hawaiiana in Precious Metals. From the Polynesian’s discovery of Hawaii at the time of Jesus Christ, to the western discovery by Captain Cook in 1778, to unification and founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great in 1795, to the King Kalakaua coinage of 1883, to the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893, to Statehood in 1959 and the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941; the Mint has commemorated the historic events in Hawaii and produced some of the most beautiful and meaningful coins in the world. Many have been graded PR70 Ultra deep cameo by NGC.  Through forty years of dedication, from rags to the glory years, through the crazy gold and silver prices in the 80s, to monetary activism and legal problems, the Mint has endured and is still minting precious metals in Hawaii.