Philippine Auction of the Century Conducted at Memphis IPMS This Evening by JAA USA/Philippines Collection

[CSJournals-migration]

The Dr. Greg Pineda Philippine Collection is without doubt the finest collection of rare Philippine notes, coins, medals, and historical documents ever assembled. I just spent the last six and a half hours glued to my computer participating in the auction via Knight Live and was blown away by the many unique and Top Pop specimens.

 

The Notes and Spanish-Philippine coins included many rare museum quality specimens and the U.S. Philippine coins and medals were truely unbelievable.

 

The highlight of the sale was the unique 1907(P) Peso which sold for $189,750.00, a Gold Wilson Dollar (one of only 3 known specimens) which sold for $41,400.00, and an AU58 1906-S Peso which sold for $23,000.00.

 

In addition to these ultra rarities there were multiple high grade examples of the 1918-S Five Centavo Mule, 1928-M Twenty Centavo Mule, 1918-S Large S Centavo.

 

The large selection of U.S. Philippine Proof coins included many breathtaking, gorgeous and absolutely stunning Top Pop PR67 Plus, Proof 67, and Proof 66 coins.

 

Although I was unsuccessful in most of my bids I was fortunate to be the high bidder on four exceptional lots of U.S. Philippine Proof coins. I can hardly wait for them to arrive so that I can add them to my registry sets.

 

Over the next few days I will followup with additional Journal entries with photos and descriptions my new acquisitions.

 

To give everone an idea of the beauty and quality of the coins in this auction I am attaching a photo from the auction web site of one of the coins that I was outbid on a Top Pop 1906 Twenty Centavo which was graded PCGS PF67 Plus.

 

See more journals by JAA USA/Philippines Collection

[coin928]

I too watched this event live on my computer screen. Truly an auction of epic proportions.

 

Congratulations on winning some of these lots. I did place a few bids but unfortunately, I was outbid on every one.

 

I am curious about the Gold Wilson So-Called Dollar (HK-1031). Until this auction, I thought that NGC had graded all that were known to exist. One each at AU58, MS61, and MS62. This one however was graded by PCGS as AU55. Does that mean that four are now documented by third party grading services or that one of the NGC specimens was crossed over to PCGS at a lower grade?

[RWB]

It was a spectacular sale. I won nothing.

[JAA]

You bring up a very interesting point. I have always read that five specimens of the Gold Wilson dollar were struck but that two werte lost during World War ll. Aparently the specimen in this auction has been in Dr. Pineda's collection for years and has not been previously certified. That means that there are now four known examples of the Gold Wilson Dollar.

[delta]

Regarding the Pineda Philippine sale, there were relatively very few floor bidders, due to circumstances which can be explained. Floor bidders were at a disadvantage because first of all any tie bids went to on-line, phone, or book bidders. Secondly floor bidders were not allowed to pay and pick up their lots in Memphis, but all lots were returned to Lyn Knight headquarters in Kansas, from where invoices were sent out, so quick and easy possession was not possible, a very worrisome potential problem for floor bidders visiting from Philippines, Spain, or other countries. Thirdly, the auction ended around 10PM, after beginning at 3 PM, so floor bidders who came from out of town probably had to pay for an extra night's stay in a hotel, and may have gone to bed hungry.

 

The photos posted on-line and in the auction catalog were not always sufficient, and it was valuable to be able to examine the lots in Memphis if you were a serious bidder, especially for big ticket items, and for items where skin and surface features and toning were questionable.

[JAA]

I agree. Some of the online photos were subpar and did a terrible job of capturing colored tonning. For many of the coins that I was interested in the Photos on the PCGS Certification Verification web site were far superior. Fortunately the catalog had Neil Shafers descriptions which I trust over auction house photos taken by a currency auction house.

 

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