I think that this is a philipino coin, and it feels like it might have some silver in it. Its about the same size as an eisenhower dollar. Does anyone else have any info on these coins? I have six of them in similar'/better condition.
Filipino 1 Peso, KM 203 Cupro-Nickel (75% copper, 25% nickel) obverse: Jose Rizal (writer, reform advocate) Philippine national hero, fought for Filipino rights under Spanish colonial rule. Key points: * That the Philippines be a province of Spain * Representation in the Legislature * Filipino priests instead of corrupt Spanish friars * Freedom of assembly and speech * Equal rights before the law (for both Filipino and Spanish plaintiffs) He was put to death in 1896 for his connection to the "Katipunan" movement, charged for rebellion, sedition, and conspiracy. reverse: Coat of Arms of the Philippines. The sun represents the Phillipines, with the 3 stars being the 3 major islands. The Lion represents Spain, and the Philippines as a Spanish Colony. The Eagle represents the United States, and the Philippines as an American Colony. sidenote: the term for Filipino coins & currency when speaking English is "peso". when you're speaking Tagalog, the term is "piso", which is never pluralized. two pesos or dalawang piso...not two piso or two pisos.
Im not really worried about how much its worth. for me its a hobby, not a business, and I treat it as such. JeremyLS, when you say "in that grade," are you saying that there were pesos made in silver grade? This one does not have the "stamp" (when looking at the side of the coin, like the state quarters, you see nickel/copper/nickel) this particular one is a solid color on one side.
Beginning in 1958, all Filipino coins were minted using base metals. This is similar to the later U.S. move in 1964. I'm sure the "grade" Jeremy was referring to is the circulated condition your coin is in. It's pretty worn and doesn't command much of a premium, as far as collector value goes. The nickel/copper/nickel sandwich you see on American coins shows the clad composite...but I think that's an American thing. Every other country likes their edges to be a single color, and the entire copper core is covered in nickel. There might be a few exceptions, but I haven't seen very many, and the Philippines isn't one of them.
Thanks. I enjoy it here already, and have a couple other goodies to show. I have some in better condition, I just took pics of the oldest one (This one's 72, the others I have are also 72 and 74, all in better condition.)
You see the "sandwich" because it is a clad composition. There are other countries that use clad compositions as well and when they do you can see the layers on them as well. Germany with their copper clad iron issues comes to mind. And Panana does, or at least did at one time because we struck their coins for them and used the same planchets that we used for our coins. (Panama Balboa = US dollar) But many coins that are made of copper and nickel are made from a homogenous mixed alloy of the two metals like our five cent piece. In that case you see only the one solid color. There are also cases where the coins are one metal that has been plated by another metal. In a few cases the strip was plated and the coins will show this by having a different color metal on the edges than on the faces, or the planchets my be plated after they are cut from the strip in which case the entire surface of the coin will have a single appearance, as in our copper plated zinc cents or Canada's new nickel plated steel coins.
