Unexplainable Errors Explained Part 1: 1918-S 50 Centavos Bronze

1918-S FIFTY CENTAVOS struck in bronze planchetIt was a year ago when I encountered a 1918 Twenty Centavos US-Philippine coin struck in brass which I found just lying in a dealers hoard of ordinary dated coins. The coin was in FINE condition but the details on the shield were enough for me to conclude that such was an error. I asked the dealer how much the coin was but to my surprised he told me that I could have it for free since it’s a counterfeit coin based on his opinion. He even compared it to the ordinary coin of the same date by putting both on top of the weighing scale and it did show the difference. The brass coin weighs more than...

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The Mysterious White 25 Centavos

I have recently acquired a collection of unusual errors composing of a series of odd twenty-five centavo coins. Instead of the usual golden yellowish texture, these coins are white metallic textured. I though first that these coins were intentionally dipped into zinc thus making the white appearance but my assumption was wrong, these coins were actually white plated coins in mint condition. The Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas could not explained how did this happen but after scrutiny these appears to be coins struck on foreign planchets or possibly planchets intended for another denomination or old stock planchets. The one dating 2001 looks like...

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