NGC Certifies Colombia Pattern Oddity

A highly unusual Colombia 1918 10 Peso pattern was recently certified by NGC. The reason it was so unusual? This pattern coin was struck over a United States 47th Infantry Regiment WW I era pin.

Colombia 1918 Pattern 10 Peso NGC Unc Details, Scratches Click images to enlarge.

Colombia planned to issue gold 10 peso coins in 1919. During 1918, a small number of brass patterns were struck as a proposed design for this issue. The eventual motif that graced the 1919 issue is only slightly different from the 1918 patterns—most noticeably, the metal content changed from the proposed 0.900 fine to 0.9167 fine. Listed in Coins of Colombia by Jorge Emilio Restrepo, the normal 1918 brass pattern is listed as Restrepo-124.

Colombia 1918 Pattern 10 Peso NGC Unc Details, Scratches Click images to enlarge.

The planchet for the piece recently graded by NGC, however, was a 47th US Infantry Regiment pin. The pin, also of brass composition, was an odd choice for several reasons. First, the 47th regiment was organized in June of 1917 and served overseas in France during World War I. How one of these pins made it to Colombia to serve as the host for the 1918 pattern is currently unknown. Effort was then made to remove the mounting on the back of the pin before striking the coin, but yet no similar effort was made to deface the deeply struck design that originally appeared on the front of the pin. The pin’s original design can therefore be seen beneath the pattern design.

This most unusual coin was unfortunately defaced by several deep, long scratches on both sides of the coin. While the scratches are old, there is no way of knowing if they were inflicted at the time of production or were done later. NGC graded it Unc (Uncirculated) Details, Scratches.