All right then, I have been breaking into the coin business for a while now, here and there, for the last three years. My local dealer, also my friend, has been very good to help me along with a few deals, lots of knowledge, and the occasional poker game Well, one of the things he cuts me deals on is foreign silver coins. He lumps them all together and saves them up for me and I buy them by weight at 70% spot. The way we figured it is that most foreign silver, except the modern mexican is usually somewhere between 50% and 80% and it has worked out well for me. I can usually turn a profit on these little items. But this last time I received a doozie of a deal. I just came back from deployment and stopped in to see him, he had a mason jar full of foreign silver. We weighed it, I bought it, no biggie. (btw, he told me this is stuff he would send to the scrappers if I didn't purchase it) I got it home and started sifting through it. The canadian dimes, quarters, modern halves, australian and new zealand and british 3 pence went right back out the door with out a thought and I made a few bucks on them. There were some other minor coins that I looked up and decided it would be easier to dump them off, but I was left with a few bigger items, as I usually start with the smallest stuff and work my way up. The last two items quite literally shocked me. An American Peso and an older Canadian half. Here are the pics: Both of these are moderately rare, the peso which looks to be unc, maybe dipped, lists over $100 and the half is a major rarity with a mintage of 60,000 list in this condition for around $700!!! I called my friend and told him about them and that I could give him half of whatever I sold them for, but he told me not to worry about it, again he was just going to melt them if I didn't purchase them. Plus, there is a coin show this weekend and I was taking some other stuff in to show some of the specialist dealers (a mostly complete set of barber dimes and some major error coins) so these will go along. This may end up being my biggest deal yet!
Nice surprise. Seems like every time I come into contact with one of those Pesos it's been heavily/harshly cleaned.
My wife is starting to collect the US Philippine coins and we have been trying to find folder/album for either a type or complete set. Would any one know where to find them? I know they are scarce. Be the way those are some nice coins.
Love the peso, I've been looking to get one for a while now. And the half is cool too, I like old canadian silver too...
It looks like the peso in the OP has also been harshly cleaned-- lots of hairlines, particularly on the reverse. I've got 2 US-Philippine pesos and both of them are harshly cleaned as well. Nonetheless, I would be glad to buy both coins in the OP for melt.
And perhaps the reason for that cleaning is that so many of these coins resided in Manila Bay for a spell during the war......
why oh why do people want to melt coins? the canada 50 cent is a beautiful coin and as you say has an extremely small mintage.
Yup, millions were dumped in Manila Bay in 1942 to keep them out of the hands of the Japanese during World War II. After the coins were salvaged, it's as if they hired teams of scrubbers equipped with wire brushes to "clean them up".
Great finds! And a good story, I don't know which part hits me more, the fact that you saved these two coins at a considerable profit, or the fact that they were headed to the melting pot if you hadn't bought them. Makes me think, even in this day and age, how many rarities and nice coins end up in the furnace?
I couldn't say how many nice coins/rarities are being melted today, but during the 79-80 silver craze, coin publications were reporting that even *Bust halves* were ending up in the melting pot!
I actually saw some of the bust halves and SL coins destined for the melting pot. Don't worry, the hobby isn't missing much. The coins were either slicks, (only faintly even tell it used to be a bust half by the barest of margins), or had some MAJOR problems, (multiple holes, center cut out, bent into almost a sandwich). Maybe some better stuff got melted, but what I saw I doubt few coin collectors would ever want. I am sad if decent world coins are being melted today. Where would a good place to buy bulk world silver nowadays for melt?
Honestly I make the rounds of some of the local dealers. There are two I won't touch with a ten foot pole, but the rest of them I can usually pick up what they have to offer and they are happy to let it go quickly at a small premium. I take the time to poke through it for rarities, varieties, and the like. I have even pulled out U.S. coins from time to time.
