Philippines

From CoinVarieties
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Spanish rule (to 1898):

Philippines 1868 peso Goldberg 34-2408.jpg

copper octavos

copper quartos

copper two quartos

counterstamped eight reales and pesos

counterstamped for Ferdinand VII

counterstamped for Isabel II

ten centimos

twenty centimos

fifty centimos

pesos

two pesos

four pesos

patterns

American rule (1898-1946):

Coins.jpg

Designed by Filipino sculptor Melencio Figueroa, the series has started to gain momentum and long deserved recognition as evidenced by climbing prices (which are mostly still bargains considering their scarcity) in recent years. Beautiful, and still very affordable (at least for the moment) considering their scarcity, these coins tell the story of America’s brief colonial empire at the start of the 20th century. The series contains examples of coins struck at the only U.S. mint ever authorized outside of the U.S. mainland – the Manila Mint. In addition, these coins are distinguished as being America’s only bi-lingual coinage, having the smallest U.S. denomination ever produced, and the first (if not only) series to feature a sitting U.S. President. The complete Philippines set is as AMERICAN as much as it is Philippine and is an integral part of U.S. numismatics.

The U.S. Philippines coins are a unique and important set. They are the only coins ever officially authorized by Congress to be specially struck for a U.S. possession. They are also the only U.S. coins not denominated in dollars. However, they were indirectly dollars, since there was an official exchange rate of 2 pesos to the dollar.

The United States acquired the Philippines as a result of the Spanish-American War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish-American_War). Although the war ended in 1898, the first U.S. Philippines coins were not struck until 1903. Coinage continued until 1945, except for the years 1923, 1942 and 1943. In 1946 the Philippines were granted independence.

one centavo, obverse and reverse

Culion leper colony

Independence (since 1946)

centavo/sentimo

five centavos/five sentimo

ten centavos/ten sentimo

twenty-five centavos/twenty-five sentimo

fifty centavos/fifty sentimo

one peso/piso

five pesos/five piso

twenty-five piso

fifty pesos/fifty piso

five hundred pesos

Banknotes: