So my buddy dropped this silver one peso coin on me and it looks to me like it might be one of the "war pesos" that was dumped into Manila Bay off Corregidor as the Japanese looked to overtake the islands. Technically a US coin as it was minted in San Francisco while the Phillipines were under US sovereignty. What do you think? Sea Effect on this peso or not?
I say 100 % it was.... This one is mine that is apart of my type set. I consider this a part of US type coins. Compare the surfaces. Both coins have been dipped, but look at the surface pitting.
Thats a good question. Which would definitely interest me. As I purchased this specimen as such and do belived dipped yes but not in salt water. Another consideration is in tropical climates the oceans contain more salt. Compared to other bays that have a lot of fresh water tributaries....how many miles out to sea does the water run fresh from the Amazon River? I always wondered how much a nice mid grade collection would run? I also like the shield and eagle design.
I have heard also but do not know if the story is true. That at first the crates were being built and preped , as time became a factor, and the Japanese were knocking at the door....they got crated and dumped and many were never charted for retrieval after the war. Remember war time silver price about $1.00 @ oz. And even at that low a price the Japanese would loved to had captured that amount of silver coins.
Lets say they did pack them in cosmazine grease what effects would that have on a coin mixed with salt water?
I believe the story of the coin dump is absolutely true. According to my sources, immediately after the war, the US started retrieving the coins and salvaged all but 5 million of them. I believe there was a pretty good inventory of what went into the water, not by numismatic standards but by accounting standards. The "war effect" pesos are pretty well documented, but I know nothing about what an un-conserved coin would look like. I doubt the coins were packed in cosmoline since it was a pretty hurried effort in advance of the Japanese and why would they care about preservation? This was bullion silver coinage to them, not collectibles. Also, they were probably more concerned about denying them to the Japanese than to future retrieval. The coin I posted looks to have been the subject of a cleaning attempt.
One day back in the 70's the lady that would babysit our youngest had to drive over a toll bridge. It was 50 cent toll. Everyone used cash back then. She came in the house mad as could be. The attendant at the bridge gave her a foreign coin instead of a half dollar. She was going to stop on her way home and give them heck. I gave her 50 cents to make stopping unnecessary. A photo is below.
I believe that the Japanese captured some of the silver from the Manila Mint (or salvaged from the bay?) and cast medals for their invading army depicting a Japanese soldier looking out over Manila Bay toward Corregidor. I used to see them on eBay from time to time, wish I had bought one.
I have a "Remember Pearl Harbor" pin that I don't think I can picture here. But, after that day there was a lot of stuff put about remembering.
