Happy Monday everyone! I hope the new work week is treating you all well so far. The big news of the day is still Bitcoin holding at $125,000 and testing a new all time high. The other big financial news is gold has hit a new all time high over $3,950 per Troy ounce. It's been a great day for my investments so far, I'm crossing my fingers the trend continues!
Today I decided to share something that is a nice relic of World War II. The coin in today's post was produced in 1944 at the height of the war in the Pacific with Japan. At the time the Philippines were a commonwealth of the United States, which is why you see both countries on the coin. I'll give you a brief history of the nation below, it's rather complicated. But first off, here's the star of the show today:
About the coin:
From numista.com
This is one of the nicer coins from the Philippines I've picked up over the years from the United States commonwealth era. Most have been badly circulated so when you find one in relatively good shape it always feels nice. You can pick them up at a premium price for perfect specimens, but most of these I've bought at pretty close to spot price over the years. They only contain 75% silver, but the fact that they were minted in San Francisco, California is part of the reason I really like them (it's always been one of my favorite mints.) The are solid pieces of history you can hold in your hand!
There were 19,187,000 produced in 1944, so it's not a rare coin by any means. The silver value in this coin is just about $11.71 as of this morning, however, it would sell for around $18 to a collector. At any rate, far more than I paid for it many years ago when silver was inexpensive. That's what I love about precious metals, they tend to gain value over time and are a great way to build personal wealth!
Philippines
pinaywise.com
The Philippines are an archipelago (chain) of islands located in the western Pacific ocean and a truly beautiful place. It has been populated by humans for millennia, but populations were never dense due to frequent typhoons and volcanic eruptions. Sadly, the Spanish arrived in earnest in 1565 and began conquest of the islands. Many natives were sent to Spain as slaves and populations were moved in from Latin America to firmly establish Catholicism. It remained under Spanish control until the Spanish American War in 1898.
In December 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and other islands to the United States. After initial resistance by locals the US gained firm control until World War II when the Japanese invaded and took the country. By the end of 1944 and 1945 the US and Philippine forces expelled the Japanese. In 1946 the island nation decided to become independent and has been so ever since. That's why there are coins with the Philippines on the obverse (front) and the United States on the reverse (back) of the coin from that era.
That's also when things get complicated and I won't dive into the history here. Some of you may still remember Imelda Marcos and her huge shoe collection after her husband embezzled billions of public funds back in the 1970's and 1980's! I will leave a link in my references to the Wikipedia page if you want to read some more of the interesting history.
Some of Imelda Marco's more than 3,000 pairs of shoes
historycollection.com
That will wrap up my post for this Monday, I hope you found it interesting. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions below, and as always I always appreciate your support and engagement on my posts. I wish you all a great day and the rest of your week!
References:
https://en.numista.com/15858
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines
Disclaimer
I am not a financial planner and this isn't financial advice. Please always do your own research before investing your money. You worked hard enough to earn it!
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