2016-09-08 Thu

On 24th April 1898, Spain had declared war on the United States as the U.S. demanded that Spain should withdraw completely from Cuba. One week after the war was declared the U.S troops destroyed the Spanish fleet and occupied the independent Philippine islands. Filipino leader Emelio Aguinaldo was captured in 1901 and this fight ended.

U.S. coins were introduced in the Philippines in 1898. The older Spanish coins were worn out and did not equal the worth of American coinage. A hybrid coinage was introduced in 1903 that followed the U.S. coinage standards yet were denominated as pesos and centavos.

Coins struck between 1903 and 1945 bear the texts Philippines (Filipinas) and the United States. These coins were struck at Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver and Manila after 1920.

The half centavo bronze coins had a business strike and were issued from 1903-04. Post that, the coins were not accepted by the people and after 1908 all remaining half centavos were melted. The centavo bronze coin was struck from 1903 to 1944. The five-centavo copper-nickel coins were produced on and off from 1903 to 1945. These coins featured a young Filipino male sitting on an anvil, holding a hammer in his right hand looking at the smoking volcano of Mt. Mayon,

The silver coins were the 10, 20, and 50 centavos, plus the peso. The peso was minted from 1903 to 1912 and then discontinued. The coins featured a young standing woman, wearing a long flowing gown, holding a hammer in her right hand and rests it atop an anvil with the volcanic Mt. Mayon behind her.

The reverse featured the American eagle sitting atop the federal shield with an olive branch in its right claw and a bunch of arrows in its left. Inscriptions read "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and the date. Proof sets of all seven of the denominations were created by the Philadelphia Mint in 1903-06 and again in 1908.

At the end of 1905, the bullion value of U.S.-Philippine silver coins shot over its face value due to the rise of the intrinsic value of Silver. The coins were melted down or hoarded and only the silver peso was struck for circulation in 1906. From 1907 the fineness and size of silver coins were reduced until 1945.

The “Casa de Moneda”, built by the Spanish Government began issuing gold coins in 1861 and silver coin in 1862. United States reopened the Manila Mint in 1920 which issued the first and only U.S. branch mint located outside the continental 48 states. Coins were struck at this Mint only for the next two years but the production was resumed in 1925. Japanese invaded during World War II and production was completely stopped in 1941. The Manila Mint produced coins with no mintmark till 1925, after which “M” mintmark was used on all its coins. Except for the years 1944-1945, all remaining U.S.-Philippine coinage was produced in Manila.

Vietnam became a commonwealth nation on 15th November 1935 and this event was commemorated on three silver 1936-M coins: two 50-centavo pieces and one peso coin. Two of the coins (1 50-cevento coin and 1 peso coin) feature images of Governor-General Frank Murphy and incoming president Manuel Quezon. The second 50-centavo coin featured Quezon and American president Franklin D. Roosevelt. The reverse featured the Commonwealth of the Philippines.