Philippines 1864 peso oro
This specimen was lot 7084 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2017), where it sold for $998.75. The catalog description[1] noted, "PHILIPPINES. Peso, 1864/0. NGC AU-58. Some light brush of wear to hair and a few contact marks in field being the only signs of handling. Strong luster around shield and bust with mild yellow gold toning. Quite attractive." This coin is one of a series minted by the Spanish authorities in Manila in an attempt to drive out foreign coin (mostly Mexican) circulating there. There are also silver ten, twenty and fifty centimos and gold two and four pesos, all with the portrait of Queen Isabella.
The Philippines were conquered by Spain in the late 1500's. Other than introducing Christianity, the colonizers made little effort to develop the islands which gradually fell into the hands of the friars. Manila was important only as a way station on the route from China to Mexico and whatever coins were used there were derived therefrom. Crude, locally produced copper coins were issued c.1798-1835 and in the 1830's large quantities of Latin American pesos were counterstamped "F.7" or "Y.II" for local circulation. Finally, about 1860, a reforming government in Madrid sent the resources to reorganize the Manila mint and modern coinage began. After the Americans seized the archipelago during the Spanish-American war, all the Spanish issues were demonetized in 1904. This type was struck 1861-68 (plus the restrikes dated 1868). The SCWC does not award a premium to this overdate, which is otherwise common.
Recorded mintage: 274,000.
Specification: 1.69 g, 0.875 fine gold, .047 troy oz AGW.
Catalog reference: Cayón-17252 (overdate), Fr-3; KM-142.
- Basso, Aldo P., Coins, Medals and Tokens of the Philippines, Menlo Park, CA: 1968.
- Friedberg, Arthur L. and Ira S. Friedberg, Gold Coins of the World, From Ancient Times to the Present, 9th ed., Clifton, NJ: Coin and Currency Institute, 2017.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- Ganzon de Legarda, Angelita, Piloncitos to Pesos, A Brief History of Coinage in the Philippines, Manila: Bancom Development Corporation, 1976.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, 2 volumes, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- Calicó, Xavier, Numismática Española: Catálogo General con Precios de Todas las Monedas Españolas Acuñadas desde Los Reyes Católicos Hasta Felipe VI, 1474 a 2020, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2019.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, The January 2017 NYINC Sale: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Richard Stuart Collection, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2016.
Link to: