York Lo: K. Jamson(占臣) – the global journey of a HK shoe and luggage company over the past nine decades Jamson store on the left on Johnston Road in Wanchai in 1955. Earlier in the group, we covered several famous localshoe companies from the 1950s and 1960s such as Po Shing, Sanda, Crane and Yau Sun. Founded in 1930, K. […]
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Hugh Farmer: When Hong Kong was established as a free trading port in 1841, there was no local currency available for daily circulation. Foreign currencies such as Indian rupees, Spanish and Mexican 8 Reales, Chinese cash coins and British currency were used instead. Coins specially issued for Hong Kong did not appear until 1863 when the first regal coins of Hong […]
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HF: The Hong Kong Mint was established by ordinance on 26th February 1864 and opened on 7th May 1866 under the direction of Thomas William Kinder with the purpose of producing Hong Kong silver dollars and half dollar coins. After two years having incurred a huge loss to the government it closed on 25th April 1868. The image of Kinder has […]
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York Lo: The King of Watchbands: Poon Yuen-sang (潘遠生) and Yuen Sang Hardware (遠生金屬) Poon Yuen-sang delivering a speech as chairman of the HK & Kowloon Watch and Clock Merchants Association in 1961. Left to right: Mrs. Gertrude Kwok (郭贊夫人), Poon Yuen-sang, Lau Kam-fat (劉錦發), Lun Tin-lok (倫天樂), Chan Peng-fei (陳鵬飛) (WKYP, 1961-9-10) In the 1950s and 1960s, the HK […]
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HF and IDJ: Neil Pryde, the man, arrived in Hong Kong in 1963 to work as a sailmaker. In 1968 he represented Hong Kong at the Mexico City Olympic Games and in 1970 set up Neil Pryde the company. Neil Pryde Ltd was primarily a sailmaker, supplying sails mainly to yacht builders in Europe. With the emergence of moulded glassfibre […]
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HF: Extracted from Twentieth Century Impressions of Hong-kong, Shanghai and Other Treaty Ports of China, Wright A, Lloyd’s Greater Britain Publishing Company Ltd., 1908. A popular delicacy at home is the preserved ginger imported largely from China. The Hing Loong ginger factory in Canton is noted for producing some of tlie finest qualities, the export of which is controlled by Messrs. […]
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York Lo: Kwong Fat Yuen Hong (廣發源行) – the 150 year old King of Leather Leather trademarks registered by Kwong Fat Yuen Hong in the 1930s with the HK colonial government – “Lion” brand in 1936 on the left and”Unicorn” and “Tank” brands in 1937 on the right (HK Government Report) Founded in 1867, Kwong Fat Yuen Hong is one […]
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This article is a combination of the research of Frank Watson, moddsey, David Bellis and Hugh Farmer. Newsletter 6 contained this Query and Answer # 3 Frank Watson has been reading about the Plague outbreak in 1894. There is mention of a “Glass Works Hospital” which had been hastily converted from a glass works factory. He thinks this may may have […]
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Hugh Farmer writes: From the Hong Kong Daily Press dated 9 January 1886. “In the farther corner of the new suburb in Belcher’s Bay called Kennedy Town stand the works of the Hongkong and Macao Glass Manufacturing Company Limited, whose big, round, squat chimney, technically called a “cone” can be seen struggling to make itself visible above the roves and […]
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Hugh Farmer with thanks to Carles Brasó for the images of YC Chen and the drawing of the mill. The SCMP, 19th Apr 2014, published an article ” End of an Era as Cotton Mill Closes”. The Tai Hing Cotton Mill, the last of its kind here was located in Tuen Mun. Carles has added the following: According to the […]
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