Coin Problems

I noticed that US-PI Manila minted coins have the most number of coins with weak strikes specially on the year mark. A friend once told me that weak strikes happen when the minting takes too long or too many and the die or pattern used remained unchanged and gets worn out resulting in the unreadable letters or numbers. They usually remelt these coins but sometimes it gets out into circulation. I got a very beautiful 1938 M Twenty Centavo coin which is actually in AU condition but the year mark is barely readable. Is it really expected of these Manila minted coins or are there also "well strike" coins out there?

That should be expected of Manila minted coins since most workers who were composed of the minting facility were inexperience and does not know how to fully operate the machines. There are other coins from other parts of the globe who have such kind of coins especially colonial coins from the Spanish and British empire.

Thanks for the additional info. I got nine pieces of US-PI silver coins from the Auction held this afternoon by the BNSP at Tropical Hut along Scout Borrromeo Street corner Panay Avenue, Brgy. South Triangle, QC. And I brought home four Manila coins: 10c 1937-M, 20c 1937-M, 20c 1938-M and 20c 1941-M. Although they were presented as Uncirculated condition and the year marks were all readable, it seems that they are still not well struck compared with the 1945-D and 1944-D coins in my collection.