PHILIPPINES. Piloncito, ND (ca. 10th-11th Century). NEAR MINT STATE. Weight: 0.47 gms. Legarda-pg. 8; Legarda & Bantug-pg. 3; Philippine Numismatic Monograph-#18 1973, Pg. 25. A boldly struck nicely preserved example of this always popular early Filipino numismatic treasure with a nice look and minor earthen deposits amongst the devices offering much originality.This bead-like pre-Hispanic gold coin is smaller than a pea and shaped like a round cone, with what appears to be an upside down "R". The "R" is from the ancient Tagalog script representing the syllable "MA". From our research the significance of this has not yet been determined. It has been suggested that the syllable could stand for "Ma-I" (or Ma-Yi or Ma-it), the name by which one of the Philippine islands was known in pre-Hispanic times. Other possible interpretations include "Madjapahiti", or "Mas", the standard weight of gold used all over Southeast Asia. The largest Piloncito corresponds in weight almost exactly to the weight of one mas (2.65 gms) and the smallest known weigh 0.09 gms. These gold bits may have been named "Piloncito" due to their similarity in shape to sugar receptacles known as "Pilon". It is noteworthy that this particular character appears only on the Philippine Piloncitos which differentiates them from their almost identical counterpart pieces from Java and Siam. The uniformity of appearance makes it plausible that they indeed represented a form of coinage used by the ancient Filipinos.</em>
