Owner Comments:
Lyman Allen #3.02a (KM #179) - Total Mintage: 10,000,000 (Variety mintage unknown)
This coin is an exceptionally well struck 1938 One Centavo. It also exhibits a very boldly doubled "1" in the date and should have been designated as Allen-3.02a on the label. Unfortunately, NGC does not recognize this Allen variety and consequently did not identify it as such when the coin was graded.
The vast majority of Commonwealth reverse Centavos minted in Manila are very weakly struck, so it is rare that the banner containing the phrase "Republic of the Philippines" is fully struck. The word "of" on the highest point is almost never present and quite often, the entire left side of the banner is virtually blank. Every word on the banner of this coin is fully stuck and clearly readable and this quality deserves to be noted on the label just like the strike designators FH for Standing Liberty quarters or FBL for Full Bell Line Franklin Halves. Unfortunately, NGC does not seem receptive to adding a Full Banner (FB) designation for coins bearing the Commonwealth reverse at this time.
Despite the obvious variety, and truly exceptional strike, the label shows nothing more than the grade of MS64RB even though the variety designation was requested when it sent it in for grading. That said, the grade received is reasonably good.
Date acquired: 8/15/2005 (Raw coin)
Date graded: 9/26/2012 (self submitted to NGC)
Rev. 12/30/2015