1904 Panamanian coin

[RTD-Tech]

Thought some of you here on the coin forum might appreciate this. It's a tiny coin from Panama around 1904. Funny that they use American money here now. It belongs to my translator, it's his lucky coin.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[RTD-Tech]

 

[Holt0222]

That’s one tiny coin indeed. I would have lost it so easily.

 

[Mackaydon]

Some history:
In 1904,Panama silver coins in denominations of ​2 [SUP]1[/SUP]⁄[SUB]2[/SUB], 5, 10, 25, and 50 centésimos were introduced. These coins were weight-related to the 25-gram 50 centésimos, making the ​2 [SUP]1[/SUP]⁄[SUB]2[/SUB]-centésimos coin 1.25 grams. Its small size led to it being known as the "Panama pill" or the "Panama pearl".
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panamanian_balboa
Don.,

 

[Plumbata]

Very nice coin, I've bid on several but haven won one yet. It's definitely a great lucky coin.

As Mackaydon already stated, the weight standard at the time was double that of other currencies, which was quite confusing at first before I realized what was going on. It's sad that they never struck a full 50 gram silver Balboa, but at least we have the very interesting 2.5c Panama pills to enjoy.

Regardng "tiny coins", the ancient Greeks had some obnoxiously small silver; minuscule and easily-lost "small change" that were replaced by more manageable larger fiat bronze coins in the 4th century BC.

Here's a few of mine at 4mm in diameter and 1/10th of a gram on what I used to regard as a small silver; the 3 cent piece. I'm waiting on another one that is only 0.06g!

 

[RTD-Tech]

Thanks for the info, I'll definitely share it with the coins owner tomorrow when I see him. Might it be valuable? My coworker offered him $20 American for it and he turned it down even though that's about what someone here gets for a hard days work.

 

[A2coins]

Good info cool little coin !!