One of the Spanish Philippine coins that I like to collect is the Alfonso XII 50 Centavos Silver Coins minted in Manila from 1880-1885. Alfonso II of Spain reigned only for 11 years, from 1874 to 1885. However, the minting of the 50C coin only started in 1880. He was only 27 years old when he died. If he didn't die young, there could be more of these Alfonsos 50C.
So there are only six standard varieties of these Alfonso XII 50 Centavos, and It's hard to complete them all since the two have very low mintage and are not common in the market. These are the 1880 and 1884 coins. 1880 has a known mintage of 127,050 and 1884 with only 22,622, and they are more than 100 years old coins. You can only imagine how many still survived, and if you find them, they don't come cheap.
If you want to get a feel for how much these 1880 and 1884 50C coins check out Heritage Auctions. 1884 50C was sold for around $600+ to $1000+ in their past auction. You can also check the NGC World Coin Price Guide for comparison.
The other dates have higher mintages, and you can see them often online for sale for a reasonable price, especially the 1885 50 Centavos. Depending on the coin condition, you can purchase them from around 700 to 2000 PHP. Coins with higher quality may go beyond 2000 PHP. Check eBay for price reference.
Alfonso XII 50 Centavos Silver Coins 1880 to 1885
Spanish-Philippine coins, aside from the sought-after Alfonsinos UN Peso, seem less popular than USPI coins, possibly due to their generally lower-quality conditions or the greater appeal of USPI coins to collectors. However, Alfonso XII 50 Centavos coins offer much to appreciate for dedicated numismatists. After completing the collection of all 50 Centavos from 1880 to 1885, I initially thought it marked the end of collecting Alfonso 50 Centavos—only to realize there’s more to explore in this fascinating series.
Alfonso XII coins showcase fascinating Mint Errors and Varieties, including overdates and die errors. Overdates are especially intriguing but can be challenging to identify, often overlooked in auctions. In one instance, I discovered an overdate on an 1882 50 Centavos purchased online, though it wasn’t listed in the auction details or visible in photos. Interestingly, coins declared as overdates often struggle to attract bids unless professionally graded, as collectors seem more confident in authenticated pieces.
What are the known overdate varieties for Alfonso XII 50 Centavos? On the Numista site, the overdate varieties listed are for 1882 and 1885, but it didn't mention which dates overlapped. But when you check the existing NGC set for Alfonso XII 50 Centavos, the overdate dates are 1882/0 and 1882/1. But I think there could be more of these overdate varieties because when I checked an online selling platform, I saw a Alfonso XII 50 Centavos 1883/5 variety for sale. Check out Mint Errors and Varieties for a known list of overdate Spanish-Philippine coins.
The most noticeable error on Alfonso XII coins is the die error, which can appear as a gauge or crack on the coin. Using this site error-ref as a reference, I inspected 25 Alfonso XII coins under a microscope and found that 11 of them displayed additional error types. While I’m not an expert, this observation is subjective, but it has sparked a new interest in Alfonso error coins. I plan to do more research and study these varieties further.
Alfonsos 50C errors
Alfonsos 20C errors
Alrighty! "Kabarya!" How about you? How is your Alfonso XII 50 Centavos Silver Coins collection? Check them out as well. You might find something interesting about them.
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Editors Note: This post was originally published August 29, 2024 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
And also, we thought about that these are the only coins that we see through the internet are the ones we thought we see in common. There are patterns that's extremely rare for Spanish-Philippines like the Isabel peso coin unlike what we see the Isabel centavo coins. I've seen it in numista and coinstrail website shows different coin patterns that I've never ever seen that it exists from Spanish for the Philippines.
That's right! for me, not all commons are popular because some common we've seen on the auctions or websites are quite appealing to some collectors to buy like the USPI. But the fact that everything came originally from Spanish mint silver coins for the Philippines and might be hard to find even if it's common or low mintage especially the condition of the coin, it's still most collectible in the eyes of collectors.