The Platinum Amulet (Anting-Anting)

This artifact is perhaps the most significant discovery in Philippine history. Never before expected that this rare metal would be present in the Philippine and in such period of our colorful past. Anting-anting is unique to Philippine culture and still baffle historians up to this day. There are so many varieties that have surfaced in the past and yet none have ever traced its maker nor those significant people who have worn these talisman.What makes this piece so important is because it is one of a kind. Platinum is a very rare metal and the existence of this metal in our history proves that Spain did bring platinum to the Philippines during...

Read More

1808 Peru 2 reales with Ferdin VII and serration countermarks (Double Countermarks)

In 1832, Ferdin VII ordered the colony to have its coin countermark due the shortage of coins for the Philippines. The Manila counterstamp was a failure and a simple counterstamp was instead ordered as replacement.Counterstamping of lower denominations were forbidden and thus only 4 to 6 specimen of 2-reales and 4-reales counterstamp are believed to exist. There were no reports of Ferdin VII countermark on 2 pillar portrait reales or any pre-revolutionary coinage of the Spanish colony. What makes this coin exceptional and unique is it has 2 distinct countermarks, the first one is the F70 on the obverse and on the reverse is serrated countermark...

Read More

1862 Isabel II MANILA Junio 21 Inauguracion Del Obras Fuente Tubular

A similar medal issued during the reign of Queen Isabel shows the inauguration of the Manila Mint in 1861. It was only known among Philippine historians that  there were only water utility medals issued by Spain such as the 1882 Alfonso XII medal commemorating the opening of the Sta. Cruz fountain and first modern water pipe system of the City of Manila. There were no reports however of bridge medals besides than the occasional bridge tokens that were discovered years ago, the rarest of which was from the later part of the 19th century. This medal is otherwise believed to have been struck in Manila since the same design was used in the...

Read More

Sto. Tomas...then UP, now Ateneo...what's next?

The year of 2011 is the year of overhauls and overprints of the current Philippine notes. The most controversial of which, is the issue behind some landmarks of the country and the proper way of writing scientific names, the portrait of figures who were made to look younger, the unattractive and eye sore bright colors, and so on. Most controversial among the changes is the phrase placed on the face of the banknote itself aside from the confusion it brought to the public as they became unfamiliar with the association of the notes color with its face value. Bangko Sentral Ng Pilipinas (BSP) quickly withdrew the notes and instead of revising...

Read More