Philippine Nunismatics and Antiquarian Society Part 1: The Birth of PNAS

The Philippine Numismatic and Antiquarian Society Seal

The PNAS was founded 80 years ago by Dr. Jose P. Bantug and Dr. Gilbert S. Perez. Their primary aim was to help preserve the vestiges of our rich cultural heritage and thereby show the world that the Filipinos had an indigenous culture of their own long before the coming of the Spaniards.

At the inception of PNAS, it had 18 charter members, mostly Filipinos, one Chinese, and three Americans. One member was a woman. The society met religiously every month until December 1941, when the 2nd world War broke out. Dr. Bantug had been at the helm of the organizations for the first eleven years, after which he was made an honorary member.

During the war years, Judge Simeon Garcia Roxas was elected president. Despite the turmoil during the Japanese occupation, the society continued meeting, although sporadically. When liberation came, the PNAS resumed its activities, and held meetings with renewed vigor. But continued to be a small exclusive club until 1967.

Former Senator Manuel Manahan, who was then PNAS vice-president automatically, became the president upon the death of the incumbent president, Jesus M. Cacho in 1967. Cacho’s achievement was the incorporation of the society with the following objectives:

To promote the science of numismatics and antiquary through the study and collection of coins and antiques;

To encourage the preservation of existing historical monuments and tablets in different parts of the country;

To urge government and private corporations to commemorate transcendent and memorable events in their history by issuing suitable medals, plaques or tablets;

To hold exhibitions and contest for dissemination of the knowledge of, and for awakening the interest in, numismatic and history;

To subscribe to papers, journals and publications dealings with the subjects of interest of the Society;

To build a special library on numismatics, antiquaries and Philippine history; and

To cultivate fraternal relationships among the members and other collectors.

Eighty years ago, on March 16, 1929, to be exact, The Philippine Numismatic Society was born. The idea to form it came when Dr. Gilbert S. perez, then Director of Vocational Education, visited Dr. Jose P. Bantug in his office one day. Dr. Bantug asked Dr. Perez what he thought of the idea of forming a group of collectors and antiquaries. Both of them, even then, had quite a collection of coins, artifacts, medals and stamps. Dr. Bantug had a passion for collecting coins, artifacts, medals and stamps. He also had a passion for collecting pieces of colonial art. During their conversation, they mentioned a few other friends whose interests were similar to theirs. (To be continued)

POWERHOUSE COUNTERSTAMPS Part II: The 1906-S Counterstamp

1906-S with several chopmarks, with an unknown and koban counterstamp

The 1906-S 1 peso has been the most prominent status symbol of Philippine numismatics. Though the actual mintage of this coin is just slightly lower to the dated 1912 San Francisco Mint 1 peso. Still, the desire of owning a 1906-S 1 peso is a must for every Philippine coin collector.

During the 2nd World War, when the outnumbered United States & Philippine forces were retreating to the mountains of Bataan. Several boats carrying sacks of silver coins left the port of Manila and headed to the coast of Bataan to dump their cargoes on the waters of Manila Bay.

The Rape of Nanking and the thirst of the Japanese Imperial Force for gold and other precious metals were anticipated by then Philippine Treasury. Thus, coins especially the silver pesos were gathered and were planned for relocation at secured places. But due to lack of time and unanticipated arrival of the Japanese Imperial Forces on the shorelines of the Philippines, the plan never materialized and a desperate action was carried on by the Commonwealth Arm Forces to dump those silver coins on their escape to the mountains of Bataan.

Among the precious cargoes was almost all of the entire mintage of the 1906-S One peso, the 1936 One peso and 50 centavos, and the Wilson Silver and Bronze medals. Thus, the 1906-S became one of the most controversial and sought after Philippine coins.

A 1906-S with chopmark is already rare but a specimen with a counterstamp is truly unique. This mysterious specimen just appeared once on Ebay in the year of 2007. Twice auctioned but due to doubts and hesitations from collectors and scholars it only fetched a poor P22, 500 when the exchange rate between the peso and the dollar was at high of 50 pesos to a dollar.

No other 1906-S of such kind had been recorded nor have appeared on the market ever since. Although the price realized was not that appealing, yet such specimen remains unique and phenomenal up to this date.

POWERHOUSE COUNTERSTAMPS Part 1: 1830 MANILA

1830 MANILA COUNTERSTAMP (Serrated Edges)

Ira & Larry Goldberg Coins & Collectibles
Auction 46 - The Millennia Collection
Auction date: May 26th, 2008
Lot number: 914
Price realized: 36,000 USD
Provenance: Ex Cornelius C. Vermule III Collection. Vermule was curator of ancient art at the Boston Museum of fine Arts. Numismatically, he was also co-author with Norman Jacobs on Japanese Coinage, New York, 1972, one of the standard references on the subject.

As silk, spices and tea flowed out of Asia in the 17th and 18th centuries, silver and gold flowed from the New World (Mexico & the Americas). Spain’s Mints in the Americas were the main sources of coins for the busiest ports in the Far East. Spanish & Americas silver and gold coins fueled local trade.

In the early 1800’s revolutions, though spread simultaneously across Spain’s colonies. After gaining independence, these new countries: Mexico, Bolivia, and Peru remained the sources of silver coins. This caused suitable dyspepsia to the Spanish authorities, in Manila for they believed that acceptance of coins from these fractious rebels implied recognition of their insurgency. And, more alarmingly, it may spark a desire among the Filipinos to be liberated from mother Spain. On October 13, 1828, the Governor General of the Philippines decreed that all crowns imported from the newly established Mexican Republic of the break-away colonies must be overstruck with Coat of Arms of Spain and the legend: “Habilitado por el Rey N.S.D. Fern. VII (Rehabilitated by the King our Lord Don Fernando VII). On the reverse would be stamped “MANILA” and the date.

This counterstamp was used for three years 1828-1830. In 1832, a charge was made to a smaller and simpler die for the MANILA die had proved damaging to the Mint’s coins and machinery (manifested by the poor conditions of Counterstamped MANILA 1828). Spain eventually recognized her former colonies independence, thus counterstamping was halted in the Philippines by edict on March 31, 1837. Of all the Filipino counterstamped coinage, the MANILA series are the rarest, with those dated 1830 being extremely rare, and currently, there is no other reported specimen at the hands of any private collectors in the Philippines.

GOLD & SILVER PRICES SOAR

The soaring prices of oil, food, and major commodities these days has a tremendous effect on the stocks of available silver and gold coins in the market. Prices have increased tremendously over the past few days since the reported major bank failures these past few weeks, as the INDYMAC BANK of California succumbed to bankruptcy after its shares went down, and the U.S. Treasury giving a warning that about an estimated 90 banks are on list that might suffer the same fate.

Gold climbed to more or less than $15 a day, signaling that the escalation would either match or surpass the record held last March. Today, Gold is steady at $970 while silver at $18 an ounce. Even the current supply of silver and gold coins available on the street or the black market is dwindling, a sign that more and more people are becoming aware of the current financial situation. Local prices have already escalated, particularly, the silver United States and Philippine pesos and the Mexican Eight Reales. Gold coins are becoming very scarce so the price of Spanish-Philippine gold coins cannot be estimated as of the moment.

The current local selling price of gold on the black market is between P1400 to P1500, which is P200 higher than the previous price five months ago. Meanwhile, even the prices of other metals such as copper and nickel have already gone up due to the rising cost of fuel and other commodities.