Baryang Pilak: Philippine Republic (Mint State)
Private
Updated:
5/18/2026
Views: 1,763
Baryang pilak. It means silver coins in Pilipino. The coins in this collection of mint state silver commemorative coins were struck to pay tribute to a particular person, or recognize the importance of a place or event that made an impression in Philippine history from 1947 to 1999. They each have a distinct design referencing the special occasion.
The history of these coins begins just a year after the Philippines, rising from the ashes of World War II, became a sovereign nation on July 4, 1946. As a new Republic, its first coins were a set of non-circulating commemoratives issued in 1947. Business strike coins were not struck until 1958 because people preferred paper money for daily commerce. Also, there were enough coins minted during the Commonwealth still in circulation. After 1947, more than a decade would pass before commemorative coins were issued again, starting with another two-coin set in 1961. Then for the next decade, until 1974, a variety of one-peso commemorative coins were regularly released. The trend continued well into the early 80’s, but denominations were increased to 25 and 50 piso coins, with 1983 seeing a single 100 piso commemorative. After 1983, the practice stopped. Since then, only a lone non-proof silver commemorative has been minted in 1991.
Creating the Set
My numismatic interest is in Philippine crown-sized coins. It all started with one-peso coins--first a USPI peso collection, followed by the Culion pesos, and culminating with Republic pesos. When I had completed collecting one of each type of the one-peso coins from 1903-1974, I set my sights on the remaining crowns. And that's what bring us to this set.
I enjoy collecting these mostly crown-sized commemoratives because I find them interesting, attractive, and full of modern Philippine history. I chose to build this circulation issue set because I find it more challenging than proof sets in the Silver Denomination category. The difficulty (for me) lies in finding good quality specimens.
Assembling this set was fun, interesting, and challenging, but not too difficult overall. For starters, I already had a Custom Set to get some coins from (1 Peso Coins of The Philippines [1947-1974]). And, like most collectors, I have a collection of raw coins, from which some were decent enough to be used.
When I first built this set, some coins were hard to find in gem quality, like the 1961 Jose Rizal peso. For some reason, just about all show tremendous amounts of contact marks in the form of reeding and scratches. Even some coins from the ABL series era were also hard to find in good shape. Most of them seem to have been badly mistreated during minting or distribution rendering most afflicted with friction marks, and scratches on their BU or Matte surfaces. There were coins (mostly in the late ABL to Flora/Fauna series) that are in excellent condition. Those were the coins which were housed in individual sealed caches or sealed set packages.
Fast-forward a few years later, and now the population of Gem quality coins that are part of this set belonging to others has increased dramatically. It is nice to see the interest which other collectors of modern Philippine coins have developed.
I really enjoy learning about a coin's history and the story of the person, place, or event that it is commemorating. And because of that, I have included as much information about each coin as the Registry allows me to so I can share it with you. I hope you enjoy browsing this set.
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2023 Update
I upgraded a few coins to higher grades and updated coin information pertaining to ranking population reports. Quite a few of my coins dropped from the top as new registry set participants added their coins which were graded higher than mine.
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2022 Update
This set won a "Best Presented Set" award for 2021. I would like to thank NGC for recognizing this set once again. It is quite an honor for me, and it humbles me to receive this award. I am really proud of this set and I would say that it is the heart of my and soul of my numismatic interest. Sharing my collection to coin enthusiasts from around the world is truly a rewarding experience for me.
Judges Comments:
In the introductory essay, the owner of this set explains that baryang pilak means “silver coins” in Pilipino. Each of the 27 coins is a commemorative honoring individuals and events important to the history of The Philippines. All are illustrated both obverse and reverse, and each one features detailed information about the coin’s theme and the historical element being honored, as well as the challenges in obtaining it in higher grades. All of the coins are NGC certified, with several of them being Top-Pop entries.
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2021 Update
I am proud to announce that this set won the NGC Registry's " Best Presented World Set" award in 2020. This was a first for me, and it brought great surprise because I was fairly new to the Competitive Sets registry at the time, and this set was only a year and a half young. Thank you, NGC for considering me in your selection. It is truly an honor and I am humbled and grateful for being selected as a winner.
Judges Comments:
With 100% completion this collector is solidly in First Place for the category. The owner provides an interesting history of the coin series, as well as entertaining commentary on the challenge of assembling this set. The photos of obverse and reverse are excellent for each entry. The owner’s essay about each coin is quite detailed, relating the significance of the subject depicted, the story behind its creation and the difficulty in finding a gem example. The grades are quite high on average, and most of the coins are untoned.
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Information sources
Baryang pilak definition. Retrieved 08:32, December 2, 2020, from https://www.tagalog.com/words/barya.php
Wikipedia contributors. (2020, November 25). Commemorative coin. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 08:32, December 2, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Commemorative_coin&oldid=990657258
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Best Presented Set
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