Common Coins Can Be Scarce!!!

[ccg]

Welcome to Coinpeople Paul!

 

On the Phillipines:

1. I believe most of the dumped silver coins were pesos (and halves), and a number were salvaged. So they may corroded, but they exist, and haven't been casted into a melting pot.

2. US-Phillipines may or may-not catch on in the mainstream. I don't see it catching on. As a comparison, US colonial and early coinage is "undervalued". Canadian provincial coinage was touted as "winners" for decades, and still, they have relatively low values.

[pauldean89445]

Hi ccg,

Thanks for the post. You are correct that most of the coins thrown into Manila Bay were Pesos and Half Pesos. That just makes them that much more rare and desirable, in my humble opinion. Yes, MANY were recovered. Almost half of the millions that were dumped. Yes, many DO exist that are "corroded", but that only makes the remainder of them all that more valuable. ALSO...Many WERE put into the melting pot. In 1906, when the value of silver was more than the value of these 26.5 gr Crowns (at two pesos to the dollar), the peso was reduced to closer to 20gr. MILLIONS WERE "thrown into the melting pot". Thanks for helping me make that point. Also, there is so much history and intrigue surrounding the Peso, that i think they DO have a good chance of catching on with collectors. Considering that they have nearly doubled across the board over the past five years, i think they may well be heading that way. With a couple thousand of them, i sure hope so!

[ccg]

On the earlier "heavy" pesos, I'll definately agree that the survival rate was likely low. The early French Indo-China piastres met the same fate, though in comparison, the US trade dollar had a better survival rate as some stayed, or eventually made it back to the U.S.

 

Definately I would say that the pre-1906 pesos potential for a value increase stand-alone (ignoring the US tie). It is interesting though that the U.S. Trade dollar is often collected as part of the regular US series, though it was not meant for US circulation. British catalogues and collectors to my understanding generally do not consider the British trade dollar to be a British coin, though that may be because the "dollar" was not a British denomination.

[pauldean89445]

I have several of the French-indo Piastres in my collection. The nicest being a 1907. I also have 4 or 5 of the Brittish Trade dollars, and a couple U.S Trade dollars, the nicest being my 1877s. Both the BTD's and the U.S.Trade dollars are commonly faked coins, and i can buy them all day here from the Chinese street hawkers for p1oo (less than $2.). I carry a digital scale with me. You are right about the BTD not being accepted as " Brittish coinage", because they were minted specifically for the Hong Kong/ Shanghai/ Kowloon Trade. The ones with Multi Chinese chops usually command a premium. The chops pretty much authenticate a coin, because the Chinese merchants (being untrusting and suspicious) personal chop was his personal guarantee that the coin was original. and authentic. BTW, a past-president of the local Phil-Numismatic Society authenticated my 1906 Peso and values it at 5000-6500. Not bad for an original investment of $80 BUCKS!

[2coins]

Yes you are correct with those forgotten coins of the US . Its still suply& demand.Also the Hawai coins. As time goes by people like yourself will see this and will start to look for them to fill holes in there US collections, they are starting to move up in prices. so yes that is another factor with common can be rare.( todays prices on these).