My favorite aspect of coin collecting is that it's a tangible link to history. Usually a coin can't be specifically tied to a place and time, other than the mint it comes from. These coins were dumped into Manila Bay to prevent the Japanese from getting them. "The mission was to locate and hopefully recover 270 tons of silver pesos, valued at $8,500,000, that had been dumped into Manila Bay off the island of Corregidor by orders of General Jonathan Wainwright in April 1942, when the surrender of U.S. forces to the Japanese appeared imminent. Gold, securities and the silver coinage had been brought from the Treasury in Manila to Corregidor before the city was ceded to the Japanese invading forces in January; the gold and securities had departed with General Douglas MacArthur to Australia on the famous PT boat, but the silver was too heavy to move, so it had been carefully boxed up and dumped into 130 feet of water in an area between Corregidor and the mainland. The site was carefully surveyed at the time, but in the terrific destruction caused by the bombing and shelling of Corregidor, all the landmarks had been blown up." I thought it would be fun to put together a set of the commemorative Philippine coins of 1936 that had been recovered. They're in the redbook, a 50 centavos with a mintage of 20,000. A peso with Governor-General Murphy and President (of the Philippines) Quezon, mintage of 10,000. And a peso with President (of the US) Roosevelt and President Quezon, also with a mintage of 10,00. I've also picked up a silver 1920 medal (so-called dollar) for the opening of the Manila mint that's a recovery piece. Mintage of 3,700. Please post your Manila Bay coins or any coin that can be associated with a specific place and time.
Thank you, written by my Grandfather in law but I added the last paragraph with the newspaper clipping. I find this topic fascinating and hope people will post more items.
