Philippines 1882 20 centimos
This specimen was lot 23406 in Stack's Bowers NYINC sale (New York, January 2023), where it sold for $7,800. The catalog description[1] noted, "PHILIPPINES. 20 Centimos, 1882. Manila Mint. Alfonso XII. PCGS MS-64. A wonderful near-Gem that is VERY RARE in this grade, this enticing specimen delivers a soft radiant luster and much beautiful frosting throughout. Very seldomly interlaced with marking, we expect much competition for the present lot from specialists in Philippines coinage." 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 and fifty centimos and gold one, two and four pesos, all with the portrait of Queen Isabella. During the reign of Alfonso XII, silver ten, twenty and fifty centimos were struck dated 1880-85. The SCWC lists this date as common with 1883/2 and 1888, 8 over hozizontal 8, varieties.
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. These included gold one, two and four pesos (struck 1861-68). After the Americans seized the archipelago during the Spanish-American war, all the Spanish issues were demonetized in 1904[2]. This example realized nearly sixteen times the catalog value in uncirculated.
Recorded mintage: 968,000 including an 1882/1 overdate.
Specification: 5.19 g, 0.835 fine silver.
Catalog reference: Cayón-17551, KM-149.
- Basso, Aldo P., Coins, Medals and Tokens of the Philippines, Menlo Park, CA: 1968.
- 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 Juan Carlos I, 1474 a 2001, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2008.
- Ganzon de Legarda, Angelita, Piloncitos to Pesos, A Brief History of Coinage in the Philippines, Manila: Bancom Development Corporation, 1976.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, The January 2023 NYINC Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, featuring the Taraszka Collection and the Mark and Dottie Salton Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2022.
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