How did this get to Indiana ?

longtimecollector

Typical walk-in.........

Ice cream bucket with 20+ silver dollars......
about 15 green seal $2 bills.........
$20-$30 in junk silver.........
and a coin purse with assorted foreign coins........

I usually look at the foreign last since in this area, very little of interest ever shows up........

Today I was quite surprised !!!!!

How did this coin make it to Indiana without being holed, polished, graffitied, etc...... ??????

Blackhawk

Probably brought back by a soldier.

TwoKopeiki

Very nice, indeed.

Gazza

Also the Filipino community in the States is probably larger than in the Philippines, and richer

TwoKopeiki

Same way an 1826 Mexican 8 Reales from Zacatecas got to a small coin show in Paris, Ontario... There's only one explanation - a great conspiracy by a secret Numismatic society with the intent to promote the hobby. Your "typical walk-in" was a cleverly disguised agent....

cladking

Probably brought over by great grandfather Gonzalez in 1927 when he moved
to Gary to work at US Steel in the open hearth. It was passed down to his grandson
who moved to LaPorte in 1987 to escape the sprawl of Merrillville.

Seriously though, a lot of Puerto Rican and and various Slovak coins came over to NW
Indiana in the early part of the 20th century. There are still oddball coins that are eas-
ier to find here than almost anywhere.

lordmarcovan

I agree with Blackhawk- it quite possibly came home with a Spanish-American War veteran. A coin struck for a former American possession is not that surprising a find in America, even if it was struck just before the Americans took ownership.

Nice piece, BTW- I was thinking it was Puerto Rican at first glance. That would be a good score!

FilamCoins

XF-AU? $50-100

cladking

<< <i>I agree with Blackhawk- it quite possibly came home with a Spanish-American War veteran. A coin struck for a former American possession is not that surprising a find in America, even if it was struck just before the Americans took ownership.

Nice piece, BTW- I was thinking it was Puerto Rican at first glance. That would be a good score! >>



D'oh. I look at the obverse of these and quit. These are much easier to find than the Puerto Rican.

TwoKopeiki

Clad, in that condition it's still a $100+ coin. I think you did well

tmot99

I like a more colorful explanation.

In 1893, people came from the Phillipines for the Columbian Expo. They settled close by in Indiana. Once they made Indiana their home, it took 4 years for a letter to make it all the way home to their relatives. Once the letter was received, the relatives packed their canvas sack and jumped on the closest boat to find Indiana. Prior to leaving, they sold off all of their non-essentials getting "un peso" for their iron pan they used to cook their last meal. They put all of their "un peso"s into their pocket together not realizing that this would most certainly create wear on the piece during their 4 week trip across the ocean. Slowly making their way across the foreign land, they were frugal at spending their money keeping just a few "un peso"s for their reunion with their relatives in Indiana.

After finally arriving and spending a few weeks looking for work without any hope, they went to the corner store to buy a loaf of bread with their last "un peso". Mrs. Smith, who ran the store, felt these people were so nice. With much effort, they shared the story of their journey with Mrs. Smith. They quickly found a soft spot in Mrs. Smith's heart. Mrs. Smith felt so bad to hear about their rough trip that she vowed to help them any way that she could. But she was a skeptic. The riff raff that the World's Fair brought in had turned Mrs. Smith to be cautious. She put that "un peso" into her coin purse for safe keeping. If that nice family were to come back a week later, she would give them their "un peso" back to them. They were never heard from again and to this day, Mrs. Smith kept that precious coin always wondering whatever happened to that nice family.