Coins of The Philippine Peso - History

History

Both Spain and the United States struck coins for the Philippines while the latter was their colony. Spanish issues were 1 peso, 2 pesos and 4 pesos (all gold from 1861–1868 and again in 1880-1885). Silver fractional coinage ran from 1864–1868 and again from 1880–1885 and were in the denominations of ten centavo, twenty centavo and fifty centavo.

The United States also struck coins for use in the Philippines from 1903 to 1945. Denominations included the ½ centavo, one centavo, five centavo, 10 cen, 20 centavo, 50 centavo, and one peso. The ½ and 1 centavo coins were struck in bronze, the 5 centavo struck in Copper (75%)- Nickel(25%), the 10, 20, 50 centavo and peso coins were struck in a silver composition. From 1903 to 1906, the silver coins had a silver content of 90%, while those struck after 1906 had a reduced silver content of 75% for 10 through 50 centavos and 80% for the peso. In both cases the silver was alloyed with copper.

The obverse of these coins remained largely unchanged during the years 1903 to 1945. The ½ centavo, one centavo, and five centavo coins depict a Filipino man kneeling against an anvil, with a hammer resting at his side. He is on the left side (foreground), while on the right side (background) there is a simmering volcano, Mt. Mayon, topped with smoke rings. This figure is an allegory for the hard work being done by the native peoples of the Philippines in building their own future.

The obverse of the 10, 20, 50 centavo, and peso coins are similar, but they show the figure of Liberty, a standing female figure (considered by many to be the daughter of the designer 'Blanca') in the act of striking the anvil with a hammer. This was done to show the work being done by Americans in building a better Philippines. Liberty appears on the silver coins, instead of the base metal coins.

The reverse of the coins comes in two varieties. The earliest coins were minted when the islands were a US Territory, and they bear the arms of the US Territories. This is a broad winged eagle, sitting atop a shield divided into two registers. The upper register has 13 stars, and the lower register has 13 vertical stripes. The date appears at the bottom, and "United States of America" appears at the top.

When the islands became a US Commonwealth, the arms of the Commonwealth were adopted. This seal is composed of a much smaller eagle with its wings pointed up, perched over a shield with peaked corners, above a scroll reading "Commonwealth of the Philippines". It is a much busier pattern, and widely considered less attractive.

Coins were minted at the Philadelphia, San Francisco, Denver, and (after it was opened in 1920) Manila mints. Most of the coins struck at the Manila mint occurred after 1925.

Proof sets were struck for collectors from 1903 to 1908. It is likely that a large majority of these sets remained unsold at the time they were issued. The recorded mintage for sets in 1905, 1906, and 1908 is a modest 500.

Defenders of Corregidor threw a large number of silver coins into the ocean, rather than allow the Japanese to accumulate this wealth. A great deal of the booty was later recovered, but many of those were badly corroded.

Among the rarest coins in the U.S. Philippines series from the collectors' standpoint are the 1906-S One Peso, the 1916-S Five Centavos, the 1918-S Five Centavo Mule, the 1903-S Twenty Centavos (especially in Mint State) and the 1915-S One Centavo.

Three Commemorative coins were minted to celebrate the Commonwealth in 1936. They show President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon and U.S. High Commissioner Frank Murphy, who also has served as the last Governor General of the Islands. The 50 Centavo commemorative has a reported mintage of 20,000 pieces, was struck in 75% silver, and weighs 10 grams (the same specifications as other 50 centavos). The two varieties of One Peso commemorative had reported mintages of 10,000 pieces. They weigh 20 grams, and are 90% silver.

After the granting of independence to the Philippines in 1946, no coins were minted for the Philippine Republic until 1958, other than a small commemorative issue honoring General Douglas MacArthur in 1947 (50 centavos and one peso, minted in San Francisco). In 1958, the 20 centavos was replaced with a 25 centavos and all coins were resized to be the same diameter as their US equivalents, albeit in more base metals, other than the centavo. The same seated man with anvil and volcano or standing liberty with anvil and volcano designs were retained for the obverses while the seal of the Central Bank of the Philippines dominated the reverse. These coins were minted by the Philadelphia Mint from 1958 through 1963, and then by the Royal Mint in England and the Vereinigte Deutsche Metallweke in West Germany in 1965 (dated 1964) and 1966. In view of all subsequent issues using the Tagalog language, this coinage is often referred to as the "English Series" since it uses the English language.

The next series was introduced in 1967, introducing images of various Philippine national heroes, and the use of the Tagalog (or "Pilipino") language, hence being called the "Pilipino Series." The sizes of the coins were reduced. These coins were struck by the various US mints, except for some 50 centavos pieces dated 1972 which were minted in Singapore, and a couple commemorative issues struck by the Sherritt Mint in Canada. In 1972 the one peso denomination was reintroduced.

In commemoration of Fedinand Marcos' declaration of Martial Law (which he titled "Ang Bagong Lipunan," the new society), a new series of coinage was issued in 1975, referred to as the Ang Bagong Lipunan Series. The 50 centavos was done away with as a denomination and a new 5 peso issue took its place. A variety of mints provided these coins, including the Royal Mint in England and the Vereinigte Deutsche Metallweke in West Germany, Philadelphia and San Francisco mints in the US, the Franklin Mint (a private mint also in the US), the Sherritt Mint in Canada, and finally the Philippine's own mint, once it was opened and able to produce coinage. From this point on, the Philippine Mint (Bangko Sentral Pilipinas, "BSP") produced nearly all Philippine coinage.

After eight years, the Ang Bagong Lipunan series gave way to a new series titled the Flora and Fauna Series, in which the coins, in addition to featuring various Philippine national heroes as before, also began featuring various plan and animal life forms native to the Philippines. The 50 centavo and two pesos denominations were reintroduced, which latter had not been struck as a coin since the Spanish had struck it in gold. The 5 Peso denomination was stopped, but resumed (in a new smaller size) concurrent to the final four years of the Flora and Fauna Series which featured reduced sizes for all denominations. The Flora and Fauna Series was struck from 1983 through 1994.

In 1995 the New BSP Series was introduced, which remains the current coinage of the Philippines. Only this current series of coins are legal tender as of January 2, 1998, when the Bangko Sentral issued BSP Circular No. 81 which called for the demonetization of all previous existing Central Bank coins minted before 1995.

Recently, fake 10- and 5-peso coins dating 2001 and 2002 have entered circulation. Because of this, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas issued a warning and several security measures on importing and falsifying Philippine coins. And it is because the BSP has announced that there is an artificial shortage of coins last June 2006. The BSP has asked the public to use all small coins or to have them exchanged for banknotes in local banks or other financial institution.

In December 2008 a Philippine Congress resolution called for the retirement and demonetization of all coins less than one peso.