Hmm...Philippines 1944 S 50 Centavos question

So, picked this up at the LCS last week. Thought it was pretty curious - obviously not the normal weight/look of a 1944 50 Centavos. (Note the huge die crack on the obverse from around 4:30 to 9:00.) The surfaces are extremely porous on both sides (casting bubbles?) I'm just wondering - is this just a run-of-the-mill cast counterfeit, or something more interesting?

My coin:




Diagnostics:
Non-magnetic
Weight: 8.0 grams
Diameter: just under 28 mm

Genuine Coin:
Should weigh: 10 grams
Diameter: 27.5 mm

So, what do I have here? Counterfeit? (most likely answer) Off-metal pattern piece?

Here are some photos of the edge (as requested)

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Yup, fake

 

I don't think 4:30 to 9:00 is a die crack.......I think it's an intentional addition to the design. Perhaps to distinguish it from genuine?

 

What does the edge reeding look like?

 

Added some photos to the original post.

 

Very cool. Seems to be a contemporary counterfeit cast piece. That crack doesn't look like a typical crack from a die, more like from a mold. I think this is much more interesting than one of the super common genuine pieces.
More evidence of casting around the rims and part of the edge as well.

 

I guess like everyone else, I'll say that it's a cast copy. Detail softened everywhere.

 

Any chance it came from the bottom of Manila Bay? Corrosion? I suppose by 1944 all the coins that were going to be dumped there already were on the bottom of the bay. Kind of a common coin to bother counterfeiting, unless someone were trying to pass them at face value in the mid to late 1940s.

 

Good thought, but I don't think corrosion or even circulation wear would bring the weight of a coin down that much, particularly with the amount of details remaining. Even very worn nearly slick 90% silver quarters and halves typically lose less than 10% of their original silver weight even though it can appear to be much more loss than that.

 

A 1944 San Francisco issue wouldn't have been thrown in the bay.

This is an interesting piece. If it is a cast counterfeit, then its higher quality than I would expect from a circulating 50 centavo counterfeit.

 

It was the 1907-1912 pesos and the ill-fated 1936 commemorative that were dumped into Manila ' s Caballo bay to prevent capture by the Japanese . Not any 1944 coins were dumped. Just the older bullion coins. However we did not recapture the Philippines until January 45.

 

here's one that survived the dumping.... as you can see no salt water damage, also there are still coins in the bay as when dumped they did not always mark their charts correctly.

 

I think I may have one of those...only it's a 1909. Will get it photographed this week, I think.