Feeling the Coin Edges

There are two sides of a coin. Other than that, they also have an edge.

Coin edges were originally reeded (or milled) as a security measure to prevent coin clipping. Some people used to shave off the edges of gold and silver coins and later melt the shavings into bullions. This would usually go unnoticed. However, with the grooves at the sides of the coin, coin clipping would become more noticeable.

Current Philippine coins are not intrinsically valuable and perhaps nobody would bother clipping them. There is still, however, another use for the reeded edges.

The edges of Philippine coins are designed to help differentiate the different denominations. Fumbling for the right coin can be challenging in the dark, and more especially for the blind. Sometimes, the five peso coin can be mistaken for the ten peso coin. The size of the 5 and 10 peso coins may be very similar but their edges are very different.

The edge of the 10 peso coin is reeded while the five peso coin's edge is plain. As you go down the denominations, you will see the pattern. One peso is reeded, 25 sentimo is plain, ten cents reeded, and 5 sentimo is plain (The one sentimo is also plain but the 5 sentimo coin has a glaring hole anyway). Running one's fingertips to feel the edges shoudl do the trick.

The next time you're in a dark jeepney and not sure of the coin you're about to hand out as fare, let the edges reassure you.

Banknote Error - Excessive Ink

I found this error scan in a buy & sell site. The upper photo shows the 50 peso bill with smudged ink. The lower banknote scan shows how it should normally look like.

This is the first time I've seen this kind of error. Whoever encounters such must be very lucky considering that banknotes are manually checked for errors before they leave the Bangko Sentral.

The asking price for this item is PhP5000. If you're interested, contact the seller using the link above. The author of this blog is not associated with the seller.

Worn-out Banknotes

Why are 20 peso bills always so worn out? Compared to other denominations, the 20 peso banknote is most of the time old, crumpled, dirty, and simply rotten.

It just so happens that the 20 peso bill is the smallest banknote denomination being printed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) today. The smaller the denomination, the more frequently the banknote changes hands, and the faster it wears out.

In the New Design Series, we used to have the five peso and ten peso bill. These are still valid today and is legal tender, but the BSP has stopped printing them. Why? They simply wore out too fast that the BSP decided they should be replaced with coins which last a longer.

This makes us think that someday, the BSP might replace the 20 peso bill with a 20 peso coin. As the currency devaluates and loses its value, small bills wear out faster.

So what do we do with worn out bills? The BSP asks us to help replace them with new bills. If you have collected a number of worn out banknotes, bring them to your nearest bank and have them change it to crisp, clean notes. The BSP wants our money to look presentable.

Mutilated notes are another story. Banks are not required to replace or accept mutilated banknotes and coins, although they may do so as extra service to their clients. Mutilated currency notes are those which are torn, brittle, split edgewise, or has lost all signatures inscribed on it.

In case your bank does not grant you the favor of replacing mutilated banknotes, you may present or forward it to the following offices for determination of redemption value:

The Cash Department
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Mabini Street, Manila; or

The nearest Bangko Sentral Regional Office/Branch

Coin Grading by PCGS

Coin grading is a very important process for serious coin collectors. If you are serious about making money out of your coins, coin grading is an indispensable process that tries to objectively describe the quality of the coin. The higher the grade of the coin, the higher the value.

Here is a video demonstrating the meticulous coin grading procedure of the Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS).

How do they make coins?

Ever wondered how they mint coins? Here is a video showing the process of creating silver proof coins in the Royal Canadian Mint.



Proof coins are special because they are double-struck on polished dies made of precious metals. Ordinary coins for circulation are struck only once on cheaper metal alloys.