1908-S One Peso (Philippines) - What is going on with the obverse?
darth_morgan
Posts: 192 ✭✭✭✭
I just received this today, and once I got it under the lens I noticed the obverse is littered with what looks like tiny shards of metal dispersed throughout. Is this environmental damage? These anomalies also remind me of what some cast copies looks like due to tiny air bubbles in the mold. The diameter (35 mm) is exact, and the weight (19.87 g) seems accurate given its condition. I appreciate any advice the community can give. Thanks.
My Eisenhower Dollar Complete Variety Set, Circulation Strikes and Proof (PCGS Registry):
https://www.PCGS.com/SetRegistry/dollars/eisenhower-dollars-specialty-sets/eisenhower-dollars-complete-variety-set-circulation-strikes-proof-1971-1978/publishedset/119137
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Comments
It looks like it could be one of the sea salvaged pesos
I think you are onto something there. By the way who else besides me, thinks this is an attractively designed coin?
I’ve always enjoyed the Philippine US coins. I have 5 so far and 2 pesos. The proofs, though, look great. They just cost too much for me but they are undervalued to some extent.
Me.
I would assume sea salvaged.
I like the design of the U.S.-Philippine coins, I have a US-Philippine type set album, that i am very slowly working on
I like it!
That would be my guess but on a sea salvaged silver coin I would expect pitting rather than tiny raised pimples of silver. Also, do sea salvaged silver coins typically have near black toning? Another possibility is that it was buried with other coins after the Japanese invasion for safe keeping.
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I agree with @PerryHall...The pimpling does not seem logical for a sea salvaged coin... It logically would be pitting....that being said, I have no idea what might cause that phenomena.... Cheers, RickO
Looks like an encrustation on the surface, which would be raised. Couldn't prove it unless I saw it.
At one ANA SUmmer Seminar I was at somebody brought for whatever reason a canvas bag with several hundred sea-salvaged Pesos. They were generally dark and rather ugly.
Could they be salt particles from the ocean floor that adhered themselves to the coin?
My first impression is not sea salvage, but rather it had been buried and that is surface corrosion that has already eaten into the underlying surfaces.
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IMO, it is just a corrosion product. Most of those lumps are on the coin's surface. A chemist can tell us exactly what it is. I don't think it was in the water either.
Corrosion of some sort IMO. And, I do like the design.
Some background info for sea salvaged Philippines pesos. That's why I posted that it could be a sea salvaged piece earlier in the thread
https://philippinehistoryuntoldstories.wordpress.com/2014/12/12/in-1942-almost-16-million-pieces-of-silver-coins-were-dumped-near-corregidor-some-of-it-remains-unretrieved/
Burned or cast counterfeit ?
Hey chemists!
What are those silver-black lumps on the surface made of?
The black coloration is probably due to the formation of silver oxide (although silver sulfide is also black).
The lighter lumps could be silver chloride or possibly silver carbonate, both of which are sparingly water-soluble. Silver chloride is also photosensitive (and heat sensitive) and one of the decomposition products is elemental silver.
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I really appreciate all the responses thus far!
My Eisenhower Dollar Complete Variety Set, Circulation Strikes and Proof (PCGS Registry):
https://www.PCGS.com/SetRegistry/dollars/eisenhower-dollars-specialty-sets/eisenhower-dollars-complete-variety-set-circulation-strikes-proof-1971-1978/publishedset/119137
Darth Morgan - "The Other Ike Dollars" Showcase: https://www.PCGS.com/setregistry/showcase/3354
The Eisenhower Dollar Meeting Room: https://www.facebook.com/groups/933585237044733
Maybe in a fire or exposed to high heat.