US-PI coinage being auction by Heritage...

IloiloKano

...and it is good to see the US-Philippines category really starting to get hot.

Imagine, an uncertified AU 1928M 20 Centavos Mule estimated to fetch $300 to $400, and it is already at $287.50 with the Buyer's Premium, not to mention CA sales tax!

My two uncertified examples, one AU and one Uncirculated, are looking better all the time, especially having picked each of them up on ebay for under $100, (though with shipping the uncirculated one was just a tad over $100).

Here's the linky.

JoesMaName

Probably obvious to US-P collectors but why is that a mule? Even the auction doesn't explain the designation.

IloiloKano

It is an intentional mule that paired a 1927 obverse die of a 20 centavos with a 1928 reverse die of the 5 centavos. There were only 100,000 to be minted, and since the 5 centavos was only slightly larger than the 20 centavos, and since the designs of the reverse were very similar, they could do this and thereby avoid the expense of creating a new 1928 die pair at the Manila Mint for a low mintage run. As these were the only 20 centavos coins minted that year, and as the economy at the time didn't support too many collectors, most of those coins saw extensive circulation. Those that did get held in collections in the higher grades often then suffered from the commonplace "cleaning" that both Filipino collectors and dealers performed. This coins evidences such cleaning in the parallel hairlines that appear in the images.

JoesMaName

Interesting, thanks for reply.