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2020 Best Presented Set
4557
Points
Baryang Pilak: Philippine Republic (Mint State)
Baryang pilak. It means silver coins in Pilipino. The coins in this complete collection of 27 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. 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. But there are coins in this set (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.
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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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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NGC Expert 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.