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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;bonbonbelly, post: 1347217, member: 22931&quot;]My favorite series is one that I didn’t even know existed. It was by a stroke of luck and some curiosity and research on my part that I discovered it. In the early 1970’s, I was the first kid in my neighborhood to buy a metal detector. With a huge public park just a block away, I was having a great time finding hundreds of old coins, both US and world. One fateful afternoon I uncovered a large silver coin with “Fifty Centavos” on it. I had never seen one before and flipped it over to see what country it was from. Brushing the dirt off, I see “United States of America”??? What? Well, there was no internet back then so getting to the bottom of this mystery took some time. Fortunately, that same park had a branch of the Public Library in it, and with some digging and a lot of reading I learned the story.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The coin of course was from The Philippines. Through my research I learned how the US acquired the Philippine Islands after the Spanish-American war and discovered a whole new series of coins to collect. It turns out the US produced coins for the Philippines from 1903 to 1945. All three branches of the mint were involved and the denominations spanned from the Half Centavo to the Peso. The coins share two common designs. Bronze and Copper-Nickel coins depict a man sitting besides an anvil with the volcanic Mt. Mayon in the background. This is said to represent the hard work and dedication of the Philippine people. The silver issues depict Liberty as a woman striking an anvil, again with Mt. Mayon in the background. This is said to represent the work of the United States towards strengthening and improving the Philippine way of life. On July 4, 1946, the Philippines became an independent republic.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I’ve always liked the design of these coins and over the years have amassed a sizable collection of all the denominations. Although my focus still is mainly on traditional US coins, the Philippine issues still are my favorite series to collect, because of the historic background of the coins and the personal memories they invoke.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH]155795.vB[/ATTACH][ATTACH]155796.vB[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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