Counterstamp Coinage of the Philippines

I would like to inform everyone that my studies with counterstamp coins would soon become available on the site. I know that you have anticipated for a long time some information here on the site but due to lack of available reference and information, and new discoveries and new counterfeits. I have decided to limit the publication of this information until I can assure everyone that what I have written can become the guide for collectors and dealers alike.

I found that most reference nowadays are already outdated, I myself when I was new in the field experienced how old timers and dealers maligned us whenever we question or present new discoveries. Collecting counterstamp coinage is in fact the hardest and most notorious among the Philippine coins, and yet it is otherwise the most challenging. It is also the field mostly exploited by those who know over those who do not know.

Through the advent of modern day metallurgy and technology, I feel that it is also the right time for us numismatist to level-up the game because counterfeiters have been using this method against us for a very long time. The rise of modern day fake dos mondos and rare coins on Ebay are already enough to alarm everyone. I know that some of you have been victimized by these sellers but such scheme or scam is the conscience of collecting. That fact keeps us pushing this craft to another level so you don't have to disdain the people behind it because they are actually our teachers and they are the one telling us that we should be doing our homework.

I have searched the country and other parts of the globe to look for still unknown specimen and I have been blessed with new discoveries that I will share to everyone.

I will start with the F70 and YII counterstamps, then if ever my funds allow it, then the MANILA counterstamps.

Anyway as a start, here is a sample coin that might interest everybody, an 1821 Mexico 8 reales minted in Zacatecas with triple counterstamps. Both with F70 and YII counterstamp, I will discuss the details later why such coin is a rarity among counterstamp coins.