Hey guys.......been awhile since I've been seen here, except for bush wacking a thread or two. The weather down here in central Florida has been nothing but grand. Warm sunny days abound. I think we've had only two or three rainy days since I've been here (early January).........sorry to all the folks back home experiencing snow and such. I started out my sojourn south in early January and planned to arrive by Thursday (Jan. 10) or at least by Friday (11) but I didn't get into town until late on Friday, so Saturday had to suffice for my visit. Saturday dawned warm and sunny and I got to the show at around 11:30. The first thing I did was to check out the major TPG services for sample slabs. ICG had nada. ANACs had nada. NGC (you guessed it) had nada. PCGS? Yuppers........those guys always come through for me. One for myself and two extra for some friends back home. Those guys are always friendly and accommodating. After that, I walked the floor for awhile, looking for classic commems, but most were over-priced, so I passed on a lot of material. One guy (dealer) had a Grant in MS 62 that he had cracked out of an NGC holder hoping for an upgrade at PCGS. The original NGC grade was 63. Way overpriced and you want me to pay for your mistake in crossing? More ambling about, hob-knobing and such, and I found this fellow selling Philippine coins ........a bit off course from my commems, but the issue has always interested me, and I've never encountered a dealer who had such an abundance of stock. I sat down at the table with him and had a wonderful chat. I wound up buying a few things... More to follow.......
I found these intriguing, and assumed they were minted in the US. So I did a little reading up on them. Found out they were minted in San Francisco, and thought maybe they used the half dollar blanks. But the Barber half was 30.6mm dia. weighed 12.5g and 0.900 silver. Whereas the Filipinas was 35mm dia. weighed 20g and was 0.800 silver. When I'm at the NWCC show this weekend I'll have to keep an eye out for one.
The last two intrigue me, as Patchogue and Ronkonkoma were but scrub pine barrens back at this time. Hard to believe there was a bank out on the east end issuing notes.......