3 Pesos Golden Hind Ternate island

Ternate, a volcanic island in the North Maluku archipelago, was the epicenter of the global clove trade for centuries — the commodity that drew Francis Drake's Golden Hind to Indonesian waters in 1579 on his circumnavigation of the globe. Drake departed Ternate with six tonnes of cloves, enough to finance the entire expedition and return a profit to his English investors many times over. The sultanate at the time was actively courting European alliances against Portuguese dominance in the spice routes.

This Philippine issue — struck for circulation in the Sulu and Visayan regions that once traded directly with Ternate — connects two colonial-era maritime economies through a single brass coin.