I collect silver & gold coins from the period 1930-1945, I try to buy only coins that are UNC or AUNC grade if possible, price wise I always believe something is only worth as much as you are willing to pay for it, I paid over the odd for some antique militaria decades ago because I really wanted it and it was super rare, but its now caught up and surpassed the market value. I can tell the difference between a dog of a coin and a nice one, and use the excellent catalogue of world coins books, numista and image searches of other coins of the same that I am after as a comparison sometimes, but I could still miss something important or get it wrong, that's where anyone on here who can help me with any coins I have seen and am interested in buying but just want another set of eyes (or a 100) to help me as I learn this new hobby of mine. I am considering bidding on some of these three US Philippines coins if they turn out to be good, to me they look quite nice, but a nice bright coin could of been polished at some time in its life which I don't want, I don't mind cleaned though, as nothing I buy is going for grading, do any members here think any of these coins are of the UNC or AUNC grade which I am after. I apologise for the quality of any pictures as they are not my own, and will show all relevant ones that are available This is the 50 This is the 20 And finally the 10
The 10 and 20 look ok, but the 50 has wear on the reverse above the date. You can find these on Ebay in AU and UNC. The UNC ones will be more expensive.
If your interest is in these coins in the condition you are speaking....you should research their history.....as silver coinage was dumped in the bay crated up to keep the Japaneese from capturing it when they over ran the Phillipeanes. The coinage that was recovered all show signs of salt water damage. Coins without do carry higher values.
Ahh I never knew that, I do research as much as I can but there is such a varied amount of history of all the coins and countrys I am interested in, its taking a while, especially if I spot something that might only have a day or two to go in an auction, the woman on the reverse of the coins looks a little fuzzy, were these coins not minted with a lot of detail on the female subject to start with ?
I think one of the problems is sometimes especially when buying from photographs and poor ones at that, is a small coin magnified to the size of a basket ball on a computer monitor will quite often look awful, showing every scratch, flaw and the like, when infact its actually a nice coin when viewed life size in the flesh, one of my coins hugely magnified looks to have a really unsightly scratch on it, its virtually invisible when viewed normally.
I should of clicked on that only coins dated before the 1944 ones would of been dumped in the sea, as the Japanese were well on the retreat/defending by then and not making any conquests.
No all sliver coins that the central banking system had control was crated up and dumped in the bay. Some was charted as to location other was just dumped . One must remember that silver was what $1 @ ounce in the war years. However it's value as silver would never go to zero! As printed notes or any coinage made of material other than silver ,gold, or other such medals.
The USA kicked the Japanese out of the Philippines in 1944, so the 1944 coins I pictured above (and any 1945 dated ones) surely wouldn't of been dumped in the sea, in the standard catalogue of world coins there is a gap in production while the Japanese were occupying the country, so production must of started up again once the country was re-taken to equip the country with coinage to replace all the pre- 1941 coins that were dumped in the sea.
The coins look to be in the AU-UNC range. I like them all. If I were buying, I would buy the ones with nice luster. That may be tough to know from images.
Well I bid on the two coins you guys reckoned were the better of the three and won them at a silly low price, so when/if they arrive I will take some better pics and put them on here.
One question I would like to know the answer too if anyone knows, How come some coins in my Standard Catalogue of world coins only have prices for grades lower than other coins EG, swedish krona the highest MS grade/value they have, is a lower grade than other worlds coins around the same era, is it because they were not as well made to start with ? the currency was used for a long time and whats still about is well worn ? or is it something else.
