US Legal Tender Leper Colony Coins?

Zoins

I'm a big fan of US history so I like to categorize US Philippine coins as US coins as they were issued under the authority of the US government and legal tender within our borders at the time.

Cruzing eBay, I found the following pesos and issued by the Culion Leper Colony. Given that the colony was set up by the US and Philippine coinage was issued by the US at the time, were these coins issued under the authority of the US and legal tender within the Philippines? If so, they could be interesting additions to a US type set.

Cert: https://pcgs.com/cert/43762386



Cert: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/41480203

STONE

Cool. I never knew these existed!

hchcoin

First time I have seen these coins.

AUandAG

new too me too!

bob

ricko

Very interesting.... first time I have seen these coins...Cheers, RickO

rays

Interesting...
I wonder who is depicted on the obverse of the 1925 1 peso coin?

keyman64

I will issue my opinion before anyone else: Leper Colony Coins Should Be Cleaned!....gently of course.

rays

<< <i>Interesting...
I wonder who is depicted on the obverse of the 1925 1 peso coin? >>



Well I found out. I guess my Filipino history can only be described as weak.




Jose Rizal (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino nationalist, novelist, poet, ophthalmologist, journalist, and revolutionary. He is widely considered the greatest national hero of the Philippines. He was the author of Noli Me Tángere, El Filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays. He was executed on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army. Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army, a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot the executioners should they fail to obey orders. The Spanish Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware of this the Sergeant commanding the backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising "vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.

Justlooking

<< <i>I will issue my opinion before anyone else: Leper Colony Coins Should Be Cleaned!....gently of course. >>



Disinfected, at least.

phnatacc

Thanks for posting this. While I knew these existed, it prompted me to double check that that was Jose Rizal on the obverse. That led to this startling (for me) discovery:

The caduceus, as seen on the obverse of the 1913 1P, has nothing to do with health or healthcare though it has historically been used as a symbol for exactly that (more in the US than anywhere). There is a decent wikipedia article on the topic here. I know I've always ignorantly associated it with medicine, health, and healthcare.

johnny9434

<< <i>Cool. I never knew these existed! >>

thats new to me as well

steveben

<< <i>I will issue my opinion before anyone else: Leper Colony Coins Should Be Cleaned!....gently of course. >>


that's what i was thinking when i saw how crusty that first coin is! it looks like someone cleaned the one peso already.

Staircoins

Nice pieces. These are often found harshly cleaned (as you can imagine).

The scarcer pieces from the Culion Leper Colony money are the paper issues. The currency was much harder (impossible, really) to sterilize, so left the confines of the camp much more infrequently. Nevertheless, it is seen with some frequency today - although not as available as the coinage.

Here is a piece (not mine)

LochNESS

<< <i>I'm a big fan of US history so I like to categorize US Philippine coins as US coins >>

Even if you weren't a fan of US history, you [and everyone else] should categorize US Philippine coins as US coins. They are no less American then coins of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and those other outliers in the State Quarter series (northern mariana islands, right?)

Zoins

<< <i>

<< <i>I'm a big fan of US history so I like to categorize US Philippine coins as US coins >>

Even if you weren't a fan of US history, you [and everyone else] should categorize US Philippine coins as US coins. They are no less American then coins of American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and those other outliers in the State Quarter series (northern mariana islands, right?) >>



The main issue with this line of thinking is that major organizations do not recognize these coins as part of the US type set, including Dansco and major TPGs.

As for how they compare to coins from American territories, they may have more legitimacy as some territories, such as the Northern Mariana Islands, that don't have the authority to issue their own coinage, but have

ambro51

One cent notes. Luv it!!!!

Zoins

Bump

I just ran across these coins again.

Here's some info indicating these were struck by the US Mint in Manila from @mvs7.

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/comment/13086628/#Comment_13086628

@mvs7 said:
There are not many out there that are already PCGS graded. I have a complete set of the 1920-1930 coins ranging from F-XF (see set linked below) and none were purchased as PCGS graded. Almost all were purchased raw and submitted for grading later. A few were bought as NGC/ANACS-graded and then crossed. If you don't trust buying raw, and let's face it, these coins are a real roll of the dice (because they tended to clean coins used by lepers with acid and wire brushes), you can be a little more confident buying NGC or ANACS and then crossing. The most common type I've seen graded already (mostly NGC) is the 1913 1/2 centavo. The 1913 issues were minted privately while the 1920-1930 issues were minted at the US-run Manila Mint. Good luck finding an example!

Zoins

Here's a nice type set presented by Richard Bibby in February 2019 at a Saskatoon Coin Club meeting.

Richard Bibby said:
Coins of the Leper Colonies in the Philippines

The American involvement in the Philippines started in the 1800's with the Americans establishing a Board of Health in 1898. In 1915 the name of the Board of Health was changed to the Philippine Health Service. A leper colony was proposed by the Americans in 1902 to help prevent the spread of leprosy. The island of Culion was chosen and the first 370 patients arrived on May 27, 1906.

From 1914 to 1921, Culion enjoyed a reputation for being the largest leper colony in the world.

The Philippine government and the Philippine Health Service issued aluminum coins for Culion in 1913 and 1920, but it was found that the aluminum did not hold up well to the caustic chemicals used in the disinfection process, so for the 1922 and later mintages they used a cupro-nickel alloy of 75% Cu and 25% Ni.

Click through to see lots of nice photos.

http://www.saskatooncoinclub.ca/articles/53d_leper_colony_coins-phillipines.html

Zoins

ATS indicates these are designed by Melicio Figueroa and Charles Barber.

Would 1 peso be Barber's largest circulating denomination coin?

https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/united-states/american-overseas-territories/philippines-under-u.s.-sovereignty/55417/1922pm-usa-phil-culion-leper-colony-20c-ms/

Type2

Very cool. I heard of them but never seen one, Thanks for sharing.

Type2

Reminds me of this part of this movie.

https://youtu.be/6GvcNDt_FpU

Zoins

@rays said:

@rays said:
Interesting...
I wonder who is depicted on the obverse of the 1925 1 peso coin?

Well I found out. I guess my Filipino history can only be described as weak.

Jose Rizal (June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896), was a Filipino nationalist, novelist, poet, ophthalmologist, journalist, and revolutionary. He is widely considered the greatest national hero of the Philippines. He was the author of Noli Me Tángere, El Filibusterismo, and a number of poems and essays. He was executed on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army. Moments before his execution on December 30, 1896 by a squad of Filipino soldiers of the Spanish Army, a backup force of regular Spanish Army troops stood ready to shoot the executioners should they fail to obey orders. The Spanish Army Surgeon General requested to take his pulse: it was normal. Aware of this the Sergeant commanding the backup force hushed his men to silence when they began raising "vivas" with the highly partisan crowd of Peninsular and Mestizo Spaniards. His last words were those of Jesus Christ: "consummatum est",--it is finished.

Here's a photo of Jose Rizal from my collection

Zoins

Just ran across this PCGS MS63. Nice to see some high grade, problem free specimens.

Zoins

Here's one more with slab photos courtesy of Alexander Chevakoff:

wondercoin

‘’As much as I love USPI coins… those coins were not legal tender in the US proper.” Zoins, May, 2021 (Hansen thread)

‘’I'm a big fan of US history so I like to categorize US Philippine coins as US coins as they were issued under the authority of the US government and legal tender within our borders at the time.’’ Zoins (this thread).

🤔

Wondercoin

DCW

Interesting stuff @Zoins !

An area of the hobby I knew nothing about. Have you picked up any of these pieces?

Zoins

@wondercoin said:
‘’As much as I love USPI coins… those coins were not legal tender in the US proper.” Zoins, May, 2021 (Hansen thread)

‘’I'm a big fan of US history so I like to categorize US Philippine coins as US coins as they were issued under the authority of the US government and legal tender within our borders at the time.’’ Zoins (this thread).

🤔

Wondercoin

I'm making a distinction between "US proper" such as states like California or New York, and "within our borders" to be broader where I included self-governing territories like the Philippines.

I don't think USPI pesos were ever "legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues" in say California. This legal tender text is from the US Coinage Act of 1965 and used to cover the Trade Dollars, so an interesting exercise is to consider whether the USPI coins are legal tender today in the US per the Coinage Act of 1965 which states:

US Public Law:
All coins and currencies of the United States (including Federal Reserve notes and circulating notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banking associations), regardless of when coined or issued, shall be legal tender for all debts, public and private, public charges, taxes, duties and dues.

Ref: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-79/pdf/STATUTE-79-Pg254.pdf#page=1

The Philippines always seemed to have a special governing relationship with the US. For example:

University of Central Arkansas said:
The U.S. Congress approved the Philippines Act on July 1, 1902, which provided the Philippines with limited self-government.

Ref: https://uca.edu/politicalscience/dadm-project/asiapacific-region/united-statesphilippines-1898-1946/

Either way, I find them tremendously fascinating and part of our history.

Zoins

@DCW said:
Interesting stuff @Zoins !

An area of the hobby I knew nothing about. Have you picked up any of these pieces?

These are fascinating coins and part of our history, but I haven't picked up any yet. I have picked up this medal related to US time in the Philippines, where it was exhibited at the 1904 World's Fair. Note the reverse which says "Philippine Exhibit":

• Thread: https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1045825/1904-st-louis-exposition-medals-by-weinman

There's also some historical brochures on the exhibit which shed light on US perceptions of the Philippines at the time.

Zoins

Here's an XF45 specimen.

An great thing about these Culion Colony coins is that they are minted by the US Mint and part of the Set Registry for US Mint struck Philippine coins.

https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/multi-country-complete-sets/multi-country-complete-sets/world-coins-manufactured-by-mints-united-states/composition/4824

Mr_Spud

Very cool, makes me want to look for one