Who likes 20 Balboas?

jmski52

I haven't owned one since about 1980, but I've always thought that those big coins were kinda cool. Who likes them, and better yet - anybody got a pic?

Cladiator

20 who?

lathmach

I think a balboa is a kind of a snake, isn't it?
I don't especially care for even one snake, much less 20.

Ray

Weiss

I had one briefly in the mid-1980s. A bit of a novelty. I know that troy ounces are kind of a peculiarity of the metals world and that grams would make much more sense. But that just makes the Balboas even more difficult to wrap your head around.

Sterling silver and 3.something ounces.

PerryHall

I bought one for melt at a small show. Had the original capsul and box. Are they worth any premium over melt?

gecko109

<< <i>I haven't owned one since about 1980, but I've always thought that those big coins were kinda cool. Who likes them, and better yet - anybody got a pic? >>




Here ya go.

jmski52

Are they worth any premium over melt?

The last time I checked, they were running anywhere between $50 and $65. It was a small premium, but not prohibitive. I think that they are either 3.8 oz. or 3.85 oz. They ran from 1971 or so until sometime in the early '80s.

Some of the later dates were small mintages. I think that the last issue was even made by the Franklin Mint for Panama (maybe they all were). Weird, huh?

Makarovii

Overdate

The Panama Balboa is tied 1 for 1 to the U.S. Dollar, so there was a time in the 1990s and early 2000s when the face value of the 20 Balboa exceeded its metal value. I wounder if any were spent.

rgCoinGuy

I've been buying the 1 balboa and fractionals lately (just the silver ones), but more just because I think they are cool than anything. None of the big ones though.

Weiss

<< <i>The Panama Balboa is tied 1 for 1 to the U.S. Dollar, so there was a time in the 1990s and early 2000s when the face value of the 20 Balboa exceeded its metal value. I wounder if any were spent. >>



Suppose they could have. But I wonder how many of them really made it "back" to Panama, since they were minted at the Franklin Mint in Pennsylvania and were clearly made for collectors. By the same, er, token, I wonder how many survived the massive meltings in the 1980s. They just seem like prime candidates for the crucible. They may actually be quite rare.

This one has some serious deep cam going on...

CaptHenway

We have an original shrink-wrapped roll of ten of them. Comes in a small box. At 3.85 tr. oz. pure in each, that's 38.5 ounces.

TD