Philippine coins books

garsmith

what books do you recomend for reference on Philippine coins; Krause world coins of course, but what other would you recomend?

Justhavingfun

Dear Garsmith:

Oh my goodness, hands down, Aldo Basso's privately published "Coins, Medals and Tokens of the Philippines."

The first edition, which is slightly better than the second, was published by Chenby Publishers, Menlo Park, California. The second edition was privately published by Bookman Printing House, Quezon City, the Philippines, in 1975.

Both editions are long out of print, but if you watch the Philipppine coin and book sections of eBay, you'll probably soon find one. You can usually pick it up for $30 to $40.

There's another little pamphlet, the name of which eludes me right now, which was also excellent. Tomorrow, I'll phone over to one of the local dealers here in Manila and get the name for you.

And there's a book on US Philippine rarities by Springsteen (if I remember correctly, which I may not) that is also helpful. But my copy is in the states and I'm in Manila, so I can't get you the name.

Two other useful sources of information are the (a) PCGS population report and (b) eBay. A friend of mine keeps records of eBay sales of certified US Philippine sales. He shares them with me and I find them quite helpful -- the most reliable source of information on actual value of the coins. You can do the same.

Warm regards,



Just Having Fun