Gold Panama 1988 50 Balboas
Minted from 8.5 grams of 0.999 fine gold the 1988 50 balboa coin from Panama commemorates the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The obverse depicts the great seal of Panama while the reverse shows a freestyle gymnast performing the ribbon disclipline. The 8.5 grams of 0.999 pure gold amounts 0.2733oz which at time of writing was worth US$256. The coin above resides in a plastic capsule and is struck to proof quality, the coin does have some hazing though which explains the murkiness of the fields in the image above.
It's an interesting coin I picked up mainly for it's gold content. The first thing to note about it is that it is NOT listed in the Krause Standard Catalogue of world coins. Well not mine anyway and mine is a few years old. The second thing to note about it is that there is almost no information concerning this coin available on the internet. Upon doing some more research I believe this 'coin' might actually be a pattern rather than an actual legal tender coin. There is a similar pattern commemorating the Winter Olympics from the same year. This coin is the same but depicts a figure skater on the reverse rather than the gymnast. I do suspect the coin was minted by the Franklin Mint, as they struck almost all of the Panamanian collector coins in the late 1970's and 1980's.
That's about all I know about it. If you know anything about this coin please email me and let me know!
Posted by mnemtsas at March 24, 2009 1:27 PM
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