Small pick-up from a local show

[jtryka]

I picked up the three attached coins from a local show today, pretty cheap as the foreign dealer that comes every month sells the silver coins for melt, so I paid $14 for these. I know they are technically not US coins, but they are interesting in that these were issued by governments that pegged their currencies to the US dollar under the old silver standard. The Panamanian coins are precise, as the Balboa has 26.73g of .900 fine silver, just like a silver dollar, similarly, the 1/2 Balboa has 12.5g of .900 fine silver just like the US silver hald dollar. The Venezualan Bolivar is slightly different with 25g of .900 fine silver, so precisely the content of 2 silver US half dollars. Lately I've been getting into the coins of countries with currencies pegged to the dollar like these, though I am not sure why!

[jtryka]

Here are the reverses.

[Hoot]

Look out Jeff! The dark side is QUITE addictive, especially with Greg, JamminJ, Spiny, Shiro and others hanging around.

 

Hoot

[TomB]

I especially like the Venezualan Bolivar. Is that a horse on the reverse? Or perhaps an alpaca or llama?

[HaydenTubbs]

Nice pieces,I rather like the Panama coins myself...

[jtryka]

Tom, I believe it's a horse on the reverse crest of the bolivar, though it's pretty worn. As for the Darkside hoot, I really don't consider these darkside due to the dollar peg of these countries, hence I would term them more "greyside with a hint of lavender around the periphery..."

[Hoot]

I would term them more "greyside with a hint of lavender around the periphery..."

 

Swishy!

[HaydenTubbs]

Tom, I believe it's a horse on the reverse crest of the bolivar, though it's pretty worn. As for the Darkside hoot, I really don't consider these darkside due to the dollar peg of these countries, hence I would term them more "greyside with a hint of lavender around the periphery..."

[spiny]

No, no, no... the greyside (even with a hint of lavender) is still Canada. I named it the dimside (well, at least the US struck foreign) a few years back, but it never really caught on.

 

The 1935 Venezuela 5 Bolivars and the 1931 Panama Balboa were both made at the Philadelphia mint. I'm not sure where the 1962 Panamanian coins were struck, maybe the RCM. Panama wasn't using the US Mint for their coins at that time, but they maintained the same standard.

 

If you want any help identifying any potential coins, just ask. I can look up all the US made foreign by weight, diameter, composition, etc really easily in my spreadsheet. Here's all of the .900 silver half dollar equivilents. There are even more at 12.50 grams if I went out to 30.6mm +/- 1mm.

 

Cuba 50 Centavos KM28 1953 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Dominican Republic ½ Peso KM21 1947 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Dominican Republic ½ Peso KM21 1951 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Dominican Republic ½ Peso KM21 1959 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Dominican Republic ½ Peso KM21 1960 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Hawaii 50 Cents KM6 1883 San Francisco Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Hawaii 50 Cents KM6 1883 San Francisco Proof Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Panama ½ Balboa KM12.1 1930 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Panama ½ Balboa KM12.1 1930 Philadelphia Proof Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Panama ½ Balboa KM12.1 1932 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Panama ½ Balboa KM12.1 1933 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Panama ½ Balboa KM12.1 1934 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Panama ½ Balboa KM12.1 1947 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

Philippines ½ Peso KM191 1961 Philadelphia Circ Silver .900 30.6 mm 12.50 g

[spiny]

and then there are the countries like Liberia that tied their money to the dollar, but came up a little short. The 1960 and 1961 50 cents are .900 silver but only 29.0mm and 10.37 grams. They are hard to find nice also. I still haven't found a gem example.

 

[jtryka]

That's great information, thanks Spiny. What about Columbian coins? I have a 1934 50 centavo that is 12.5g .900 fine, and it fits in a half dollar tube so I can only guess it'd the right diameter.

[spiny]

They are listed in the mint report at 29.6mm. I'd guess they were still from the same planchets and just ended up a little smaller and thicker.

[spiny]

Here's another one that I find interesting. No war nickel set is complete without it.

 

Dominican Republic 5 Centavos KM18a 1944 Philadelphia Circ Silver .350 21.2 mm 5.00 g