554

Large lot of 100 Philippines (US administration, struck in San Francisco) 1 pesos, 1907-1910.

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Shipwreck - Silver Coins 1750s-1900s Start Price:3,000.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,500.00 USD
Large lot of 100 Philippines (US administration, struck in San Francisco) 1 pesos, 1907-1910.
SOLD
Sign In To View Winning Bid
This item SOLD at 2016 Nov 12 @ 15:53UTC-5 : EST/CDT
All items are genuine unless noted. By bidding in this auction you understand and agree to the Terms and Conditions posted here.
Large lot of 100 Philippines (US administration, struck in San Francisco) 1 pesos, 1907-1910. KM-172. 2000 grams total. Generally F-VF, some corroded, some darkly encrusted but all with readable details and dated as follows: 1907 (37 pieces), 1908 (39 pieces), 1909 (17 pieces) and 1910 (7 pieces). During World War II these coins were dumped in Manila Bay by the U.S. Navy on the eve of Japanese occupation, so that the invaders would not capture the Philippine treasury. After the invasion the Japanese forced Filipino divers and then, after some of the Filipinos died from it, U.S. Navy divers (prisoners of war) to recover the coins, from a depth of 120 feet. The divers hid many of the coins they recovered and smuggled them back into the Philippine economy, effectively undermining the Japanese paper currency. Just as the Japanese figured out what was happening, a typhoon came through and ended the salvage operation. Further salvage efforts by the U.S. Navy and private interests after the war resulted in the recovery of millions of the coins, but more than half remain there to this day. Recovered from: "Manila Bay treasure," dumped off the Philippines in 1942