The Banknote Errors of 2003

In the year of 2003, a rare printing error occurred in the Bangko Sentral facility where banknotes were being printed. This affected the production of the 20 peso bill which resulted to some 20 pesos note's reverses to either exhibit light printing or totally lost the whole design itself which should have resulted to a uniface 20 peso bill.

Other special errors were recently sold via Ebay, belonging to the same batch but one apparent error I have managed to save the images was a unique 20 peso note where a second printing of obverse occurred on the note's reverse which therefore resulted to overlapping images.

Modern error notes rarely surface since the Mint are very strict and to stumble upon such kind of error is like winning a lottery.

The reason why I became particular with this date is because several collectors also cited the same abnormalities on the 20 peso notes dated 2003. Some notes exhibited lightly printed reverse which were particularly obvious only with this date and denomination. Click this link to view more...

Apparently, uniface note is one of the toughest type of errors in collecting notes since Mint employees should have easily recognized the oddity and apparently destroyed it after being isolated.

Luckily this note escaped scrutiny and now belongs to the exclusive collection of this site.

Read More

1944 One Centavo Struck in Platinum Planchet

1944 One Centavo Struck in Platinum Planchet

This coin, a 1944 San Francisco Mint One Centavo recently surfaced from an old collector's hoard. It seems to be the first reported error of a United States and the Philippines coinage that is unique. Previously reported off-metal coins were either under the categories of double denomination or a coin struck on a planchet used for another denomination or a coin struck on foreign planchet. But since this coin is very unusual, it may either be a pattern or a trial strike. Basically it is not made of copper nor silver but a white metal.

The metal seem to belong from the Platinum family due to the metal's characteristics; heavy, white, and hard. I have researched other contemporaries of the 1 centavo United States & Philippines coins minted by the San Francisco Mint but nothing comes close to the exact dimension, weight, and composition minted for for other foreign country and even for the United States itself.

Comparison of the Trial Strike with the normal coin

Through a friend, I was told that there was also a brass specimen discovered 3 years ago. I went to find out if the information was true and I was not disappointed by the result after I saw the coin. The coin was not in great condition though unlike this one, though it is evident that it was really struck in brass and the die is exactly the same used as the above.

I have found out through comparison that there were literally several dies used for the 1944 One Centavo. One specific variety has uniform set of stars located on top of the shield while another one has a seemingly flat and fat star on the left. Others have medium-size mint marks while on the other hand I have also discovered a specimen with a very small mint mark.

This suggest my suspicion that the Mint could have used several dies for the 1944 One Centavo and they have made several die trials to test these dies.

Yet of all the trials made during that period, this one seem to be unusual since U.S. Mints have only tried using platinum for die trial during the 1800 because the metal has not yet been popularized by the industrial age. Aside from the fact that it was intended only for then United States colony, the Philippines.

Read More