1992 WATERHOUSE COMMEMORATIVE IN BRONZE

The Waterhouse family dates back to John Thomas Waterhouse Sr. a Methodist missionary and his son, John Thomas Waterhouse Jr., who arrived in Hawaii with his father in 1851. John T. Waterhouse Jr. started the Waterhouse Trust Company, a financial firm dealing with real estate, brokerage, investments and insurance. He also served in the Legislature during the monarchy, the Provisional Government, the Republic of Hawaii and favored Hawaii’s annexation to the United States. John T. Waterhouse issued the earliest known Hawaiian token in soft white metal with the bust of King Kamehameha III on the obverse and the name of his firm on the reverse with the Hawaiian inscription "hale maikai" that means "house excellent"- a good place to do business. The tokens circulated from 1855 to 1860. The Waterhouse name is still well known in Hawaii today, as descendants of John T. Waterhouse carry on the traditions of their early pioneer family with several business enterprises. In 1992, the Mint was honored to commemorate the 80th birthday of Alexander Cooke Waterhouse with gold, silver and bronze medals based on the original 1855 tokens issued by the Waterhouse Company of Honolulu.