Markoi Coins and Collectibles

12/09/2025

20/08/2025

Why is the Spoliarium special?

It's not because it's the largest painting in the Philippines. It's not because Juan Luna, a national hero, painted it.

The Spoliarium is special because it won a gold medal (out of three) at the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1884 in Madrid, Spain. At first, it feels a bit reductory to claim this magnificent painting is only important because a group of Europeans gave it a medal, but there is a deeper layer to all this.

Juan Luna was among the first waves of Filipinos who were sent abroad to study further, the group that will eventually be known as the Illustrados. Luna's exposure to the European Art Scene will lead him to join the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1881, winning a silver medal for his work "La Muerte de Cleopatra". Three years later, the Spoliarium would win a gold medal.

And that is the true legacy of Juan Luna: that a Filipino, once exposed to the same opportunities as the Europeans get, will excel. That he won a gold medal from the art exposition of the very country that held the Philippines under its yoke, by the same colonizers who dismissed the Filipinos as "monkeys", should be seen as significant. Some sources even say Luna was unjustly denied the Medal of Honor from the Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes due to racial prejudice. But even without all that, the Spoliarium's importance to our history and identity as a people should be unquestioned.

---

The Spoliarium can be viewed at the National Museum of Fine Arts everyday from 10:00am to 4:00pm. Admission to the museum is free. We can add this museum stop to any of our Manila tours that you book with us.

10/08/2025

Context?

Pokemon collecting gone rogue in JAPAN.

28/07/2025

Wow...so Mex coins might be connected to our history...

07/07/2025

The Philippine peso isn’t just local currency — it has deep international roots. It originated from the Spanish "peso de a ocho", also known as the piece of eight, which was once the world’s most traded coin during the Spanish colonial period. It was so trusted it became legal tender in countries like the U.S. and China!

The "Wait, What?!" Moment:
Our modern peso directly descends from this global currency giant. Minted mostly in Mexico, these coins made their way to Manila via the Galleon Trade, then spread all across Asia. Our money was once part of a truly global financial system

03/07/2025

Lol

02/07/2025

𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗡𝗚 𝗞𝗨𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚
History time!
Did you know?
The term "isang kusing," referring to a half-centavo coin, dates back to the early American colonial period in the Philippines (1903-1908). "Kusing" is a term derived from the Filipinized Spanish word "singko" (meaning five), with its syllables transposed. The half-centavo coin, also known as "kusing," was minted by the US in 1903 and 1904 but was eventually withdrawn from circulation due to its low value and was rejected by Filipinos. The phrase "isang kusing" was used to refer to this specific coin and, later, to any small denomination coin.
This particular coin in the picture has the year 1903 and was made in the Philadelphia mint in the United States.
A lot of half centavo coins were melted and turned into a regular 1c coins, that's why it's a bit hard to find a half centavo coin compared to other 1c coins.

30/06/2025

𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗖𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦 𝗡𝗔𝗠𝗘𝗗 𝗔𝗙𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗣𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗦

Sa mga balak magpuntang Mars may address na kayo.
Do you want to go to Taytay, Mars? Yes, there are six (6) small craters on the red planet officially named after the towns in the Philippines.

Large impact craters on Mars (approximately 50 km wide and larger) are named by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) after scientists and writers who have contributed significantly to the study or lore of Mars. On the other hand, the smaller ones are named after small towns and villages on Earth with populations of approximately 100,000 or less during the time the naming was made.

Out of thousands of craters on the Martian surface, six were named after towns in the Philippines: Daet (Camarines Norte), Camiling (Tarlac), and Naic (Cavite) in 1976, Solano (Nueva Vizcaya) in 1991, and Taytay (Palawan) and Bacolor (Pampanga) in 2006.