| Featured on
the top row are the obverse and reverse of a 2-peso coin dated 1868/? (re-cut
8?) struck on greenish-white metal which was found among some heirloom
coins in Roxas City, Capiz, West Visayas on March 3, 1978. As 2-peso coins
were supposed to have been struck on gold, this particular coin immediately
generated great numismatic interest as it appeared to be an EXTREMELY RARE
OFF-METAL STRIKE (OMS).
Tested at the
Money Museum of the Central Bank of the Philippines on March 13, 1978,
the coin weighed approximately 3.4 grams, registered a specific gravity
of 17 and showed no reaction to nitric acid when it was tested on three
different occasions. Having passed initial scrutiny, it was officially
reported in the Central Bank numismatic publication Barrilla on October
1978 and has since been repeatedly exhibited at subsequent annual conventions
of the Philippine Numismatic and Antiquarian Society (PNAS).
The question
that has remained unanswered until recently however, is whether or not
this coin, which has been affectionately called ISABEL BLANCA, was one
of those contemporary counterfeits (falsas de epoca) made for gain from
spurious dies in private mints. On September 1, 1981, on the PNAS convention
floor at the Holiday Inn in Manila, a regular 2-peso 1868 coin was found
that laid all of these speculations to rest (obverse and reverse shown
on the lower row of the photograph). Microscopic comparison of the two
coins confirmed without doubt that both coins had come from the SAME set
of OFFICIAL dies of the Case de Moneda de Manila.
But why was
the BLANCA ISABEL coined at all? Was it authorized? An error? A trial piece?.
A presentation piece? Was the mint employee's purpose to gild it and fraudulently
pass it on as a regular coinage? Whatever be the initial reason for its
existence, does it not stand to reason that there should at least be a
few more pieces just like it waiting to be discovered? Only ONE specimen
known to exist. (Philippine collection) |
