Owner Comments:
Lyman Allen #20.00 (KM #178) - Mintage: 10,000
THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES was founded on November 15th, 1935. To commemorate the first anniversary of this historic event, a set of three coins containing one 50 Centavo piece and 2 different One Peso pieces was minted at the Manila Mint in 1936. The issue price for this set was $3.13 USD! Despite the historical significance, low mintage of 10,000 sets, and the low issue price, many sets remained unsold and languished in the Philippine Treasury. When the Japanese invaded in 1941, the vast majority of these unsold sets were dumped into Caballo Bay to keep them from falling into enemy hands. This is the reason that so many of these coins exhibit damage due to prolonged exposure to salt water and are thus described as “sea salvaged.”
These three coins were the first to bear the new Commonwealth reverse designed by Ambrosio Morales which was applied to all production coins beginning in 1937. The obverse of this coin depicts the jugate busts of the first Philippine President, Manual L. Quezon in the foreground, and U.S. Governor General, Frank Murphy in the background with the date of the founding of the commonwealth to their right. As a commemorative issues, these coins are typically very well struck.
This particular coin is not as well struck as many, but is still a very high grade example of this Manila Mint issue. Note that the banner on the reverse is fully struck include the word "of" in the center which is very clear.
Date acquired: 8/7/2014 (Already graded by PCGS)
Rev. 1/5/2019