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Message:: [QUOTE="mdr, post: 59800, member: 3563"]Dear Speedy,  Thanks for your input. I called the Money Museum of the  Central Bank of the Philippines and they refered me to the consultant who set up their Money Museum, Conrad Ciriaco. He was in our neighborhood visiting his daughter and was very eager to see the coin because he knows of only one other specimen here in the Philippines. He looked at the coin and classified it AU (almost uncirculated) and authentic. I keep in one of those clear plastic coin containers which he said would give the coin sufficient protecton. He says the coin that the Central Bank bought for $40,000 in Mexico was not the 1880 Alfonso XII but a different gold coin with a counter stamp, I forgot the name. He also said that the Alfonso XII were minted in the Philippines and not in Spain as I assumed. The mint along with it's records were destroyed in World War II so they can't find out how many of the 1880's were made.  Most gold coins in the Philippines were routinely melted down and used for jewerly before collectors showed interest. This is why there are so few specimens. He was very apprehensive that I would sell the coin in the US or Europe. He felt strongly that the coin should remain the the Philippines so I told him that I had not made up my mind.[/QUOTE]