Got a balboa, not the rocky kind either.....

[gold fish]

It's officially a first, and according to the interwebnets, has about as much silver in it as a morgan. It is a good heavy coin, nice and thick.

 

[kestrelia]

Great find! Was it loose or in rolls? Does the coin actually have the fineness and weight on it? (on reverse)

Getting foreign silver coins always makes me think someone stuck this in a roll thinking, "Ha! I'm pulling one over on the bank ... suckers!"

-Brian

 

[LJ]

Nice one GF. I like the look of that desgin.

I picked one up in a box last year but not near as good looking as this one. Congrats!

 

[Cat J]

That is a Panamanian coin. I use to live in Panama. Their money was made by the US.

Thanks
Cathy

 

[silverfinder]

The coin is actually a half (medio) Balboa, the size of a U.S. half dollar. These coins were (and, I believe, still are) minted in the U.S. on half dollar sized planchets. The 1962 half Balboa contains the same amount of silver as all .900 silver halves, and is worth about the same as common U.S. silver halves, although far fewer Balboas were minted in '62 than Franklin halves. Morgan dollars have a higher silver content than your coin, as would be expected. Panama, however, also issued silver Balboas, a larger coin than the half Balboa, which may have had more silver than Morgans...I forget. Panama still issues super large silver coins for collectors. Modern medio Balboas are of copper-nickel clad copper; no silver.

 

[Silver Stripe]

Yea I got a '79 and an '80 last year, both from FED rolls- wish mine were silver. HH Mark

 

[Cat J]

I have some big silver ones.

Cat

 

[seger98]

that is really neat

 

[whitesid]

it says right on there 12.50 grams of .90 silver
8)

 

[silverfinder]

12.50 grams is the weight of a .900 silver U.S. half dollar, the same weight as the Panamanian half Balboa. U.S. silver dollars weigh around 27 grams.

 

[gold fish]

Wow, I learned a bunch !!! Thanx for all the info, and PBK thinks he's a know-it-all