The Extremely Rare 1986 Marcos head 500 - peso note to be auctioned this Month

Lot Description of the Marcos Head 500-peso banknote

The Bayanihan Collectors Club Local Auction Catalgue

After the Marcos regime ended, the Aquino government implemented a draconian reformation including the immediate deletion of all memories that would remind the public of the former president. Statues, monuments, publications, including projects were torn down, demolished, or discontinued as part of the process. During that same period, then Bangko SentralNg Pilipinas was about to introduce the 500-peso denomination, which featured Marcos head. Before the denomination was about to be distributed, Ferdinand Marcos was ousted by way of the first People Power revolution thus, it never reached circulation and were left stored in the Central Bank’s vault until the new government was installed.

Former president Aquino ordered the destruction of all of these banknotes that even the Central Bank Museum does not have any specimen in their collection. The order was very directive that not a single piece be left as a reminder of the history that had taken placed. However, a single image of the note was captured by a researcher who was then compiling a catalogue of Philippine banknotes. I have found that mysterious manuscript inside the Quezon City Hall public Library with the original pictures attached to it. The crude research paper never reached mass production and the original manuscript was placed along with several books in the Filipiniana section. The pages of the manuscript were already torn that even the title page was missing yet surprisingly, the single picture of the 500-Marcos note was there when I first made that discovery.

I was disappointed that the library do not allow their books brought outside despite of my formal request from the administrator to have it colored copied, and thus I left the image at the hands of other library goers.

The second time I came, I brought myself a digital camera to have the image reproduced but it was not there anymore. Sad to say that even just the picture of this amazingly rare note was lost that I had feared that it was lost forever until a great news arrived.

This 30th of November, the Bayanihan Collectors Club will conduct a regular auction, which features the printer’s proof of the 500-peso Marcos banknote. Despite of the numerous rare collections that will be offered, the item is placed under the regular local auction so, no image was attached along with the lot description. This is a once in lifetime opportunity for Philippine note collectors since this is the first time that the numismatic world would first capture the first and probably the only existing copy of the note---which coincidentally, is also the printer’s copy.

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Banknote Errors Part 2: Mismatched, Miscut, and Asterisk in One!

An Error 5 Pesos Ang Bagong Lipunan Series (Marcos - Laya signed)

This site has featured some of the best Philippine banknote errors in the past few months. Due to the ongoing economic crisis in the United States, some local dealers have decided to unload their collections to raise cash. In the past few months, we have otherwise seen some of the best error notes and rarities that have came out and might be the first time that the public has been made aware of existed.

Collecting error notes is much tougher than coins, since error notes are rarer and harder to find in best condition. One of the best error notes that have been acquired recently through this site is from the Marcos Ang Bagong Lipunan (New Society Series). Such error note is truly phenomenal because of the sequence of errors and the extremely rare combination of probabilities that occurred.

Foremost, the note that is a combinations of letter and asterisks prefixes, is extremely rare and has been unique only with the Marcos Ang Bagong Lipunan series. Second, the note was miscut, which resulted to a mismatched serial number. Thus, making it as one of the best error note that have ever appeared recently.

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Econonomic Report: OFW Remittance up by 17.2 %

Remittances of overseas Filipinos coursed through banks continued to be above the billion-dollar mark, at US$1.3 billion in August 2008. As a result, year-to-date remittances totaled nearly US$11 billion (at US$10.9 billion). The remittance level for the first eight months was 17.2 percent higher compared to the level recorded in the same period a year ago. Remittances in August 2008, however, grew at a slower pace of 10.4 percent compared to previous months.

While the ongoing global economic slowdown could put some dent on the growth of remittances, particularly from those advanced countries that would be most affected by the strains in the global financial markets, Officer-in-Charge Nestor A. Espenilla, Jr. observed that remittances will continue to provide strong support to the economy for a number of reasons. First, demand for Filipino workers overseas has been on an uptrend. Preliminary data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) showed that, for the first eight months of 2008, the number of Filipinos deployed abroad reached 884,907, 26.4 percent higher than the level a year ago (699,937). Newly-hired Filipinos were mostly deployed to the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait) and Asia (Taiwan and Hong Kong). The ongoing conduct of talks with potential foreign employers combined with the increasing deployment of highly-skilled, therefore higher-paid Filipino workers (such as engineers, medical practitioners, production-related workers, hotel staff) continued to buoy the demand for Filipino manpower and the level of remittances.

Second, Filipino workers overseas and their families have gained greater access to enhanced banking services provided by local banks and their foreign counterparts. The increased access to formal channels by overseas Filipinos has been made possible by the establishment of more remittance centers and tie-ups abroad by local banks, OIC Espenilla added.

For the period January-August, remittances came largely from the U.S., Saudi Arabia, U.K., Italy, United Arab Emirates, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong. - BSP Media Release

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The 1910 S Ten Centavos: Truth or Dare!

The 1910 San Francisco Mint Ten Centavos

It had been more than two decades since the 1910 San Francisco Mint Ten Centavos was published that if somebody would have found it, the collector would have paid a great sum to have the fabled coin. The 1910 S is one of the famous numismatic pieces that had a very colorful background. Almost a century and there is still no confirmed and graded specimen had ever surfaced except for those 1918 S that were with altered dates to look like the 1910 S. Luckily, I was able to meet the person who claimed that he possesses the most intriguing coin in Philippine numismatic history. He don’t want to tell his name for a valid reason since nowadays that fakery and counterfeiting are so rampant that he wanted to protect his name and integrity, and the same with that of his prize possession.

I otherwise is in no position to claim that this is the genuine article except to show to you the picture of the coin since it had never undergone professional grading and I myself was not able to hold the piece that long for further scrutiny. Anyway, the story seems to be interesting enough for me to take time and have the owner interviewed.

According to historical record, only two pieces of the coin were produced and one of the two specimens was acquired by the National Museum and had it displayed until the World War II erupted. The National Museum as we know was destroyed by Japanese air raids during the war. Together with that, a great lost of Philippine historical records and artifacts went missing as massive looting and fires destroyed much of the collections among them to name a few were the skeletal remains of Andres Bonifaco and the 1910 S Ten Centavos.

There were no reports of its existence nor any could claim that the 1910 S Ten Centavos did ever exist except with this account. Not until a famous newspaper advertisement decades ago that the numismatic world became aware of its existence. However, after the story surfaced other craftsmen and forgers started producing faked or altered date 1918 S Ten Centavos to make money with the treasure hunt. Thus, a number of collectors and dealers began to doubt if there really is a 1910 S Ten Centavos or it is just one of the fairy tale of the numismatic world.

I asked my subject how did he acquire the piece. He explained to me that he was not aware that he has the coin in his collection since it came from a bulk of coins he bought from a sidewalk vendor during his visit in the Northern part of the Philippines. He was not otherwise aware that that particular coin exists since he has no reference, catalogues, nor much knowledge of coin mintage since he is not that serious into coin collecting.

When he joined the Philippine Numismatic and Antiquarian Society (PNAS), a local numismatic club then he learned that the coin that he now owns is that rare. Since he is also afraid to show the coin in public because of the counterfeit phobia he decided to hide the coin and just enjoyed it in privacy. Otherwise, he wants it be professionally graded first before he could brag that he owns the fabled coin in Philippine Numismatic history.

The owner wishes anonymity but he granted us to have the coin’s picture. You’ll be the judge of course, truth or dare!

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Collecting Coin is Fun?

When I started out collecting coins, most people thought that I had a weird hobby. Since, I always spent a portion of my allowance on coins, my parents would even think that I was wasting my time and coin collecting was detrimental. I was aware that I was the only one even in my class who has such passion for coins but i really don't know what made me kept happy whenever I add a piece of penny or a couple of change found from a "balikbayan" neighbors "pasalubong" to my collection. I felt excited whenever I visit a local coin shop or an antique shop to glance at some of the displays and always told myself that I would buy one in the future after i had asked the owner how much the price of that piece would be.

I stopped collecting coins for a while when I reached college. The schedule was hectic and I found it very hard to mingle with teens of my age whenever I entered coin collecting as an interesting subject. I felt that I was depriving myself during those years especially i that cannot barge from friends conversation when the topic of our "jam" was what we do like doing most as a past time.

I was already a career person when I again encountered coin collecting. Despite the traumatic experience I had during that second introduction since I bought fake coins for a hefty sum of money. I realized that still, coin collecting is fun for me. I know it is better to say that I should have stayed away from it but I thought it was part of educating myself and that experience was a preparation for me to become a professional numismatist and a collector.

Now, whenever I recall my past. I had no doubts that I made the right choice. Coin collecting is fun and will always be fun and that I would be more than willing to share that feelings with others as long as I could.

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