The Manila Mint: A U.S. Mint

               A couple of months ago at our monthly coin club meeting a friend gave me a bag of coins and tokens. Among the tokens and coins lay a coin that caught my eye. It was a coin from 1930 from the Manila Mint. After the coin club meeting, I talked to my friend about the history of the coin.

               While my dad was driving me home from the coin club I wondered where the mintmark was, so I did a little research and figured out that the mint mark was to the left of the date under the dot. The obverse of the coin depicts a man with a hammer and an anvil with Mt. Mayon in the background. The reverse depicts the Philippian coat of arms and it said "United States of America". I wanted to learn more about the coin and this is what I learned:

               In 1898 after the Spanish-American War, Spain gave the Philippines to the United States in the treaty of Paris. Unlike other U.S. territories, the United States issued coins specifically for that territory.  In 1903, the San Francisco Mint began producing silver coins including the Ten Centavos, Twenty Centavos, Fifty Centavos, and Pesos.

                At the same time, the Philadelphia Mint began producing base metal coins including Half Centavo, Centavos, and Five Centavos. The Philadelphia Mint also produced proof coins for the Philippians. The Philadelphia and San Francisco Mints minted coins until 1920. In 1920, the Manila Mint was opened as a U.S. Branch Mint. It produced all of the coins for the Philippians. Coins were not produced for the Philippians in 1923 and 1924. Coinage began again at the Manila Mint in 1925. It minted us coins until 1941 when the Japanese invaded the Philippians. In 1944 and 1945 other U.S. Mints issued coins for the Philippians. The Manila Mint was destroyed in 1945 during the retaking of Manila from the Japanese. The Philippines became a country in 1946 after the United States granted them independence in the Treaty of Manila.

               The Half Centavo, Centavos, and Five Centavos depict a man with a hammer and an anvil, Mount Mayon is in the background. The Ten Centavos, Twenty Centavos, Fifty Centavos, and Pesos depict Lady Liberty striking the anvil with the hammer. The reverse of all the coins depict the Philippian Coat of Arms enclosed by the inscription "United States of America" with the date at the bottom of the coin and the mintmark to the left of the date.

               The Philippian Coat of Arms changed several times while the Philippians was a U.S. Territory. Most of the time it had an eagle on a branch above a shield. The design on the shield has changed a couple of times as well.

 

My sources are

https://currencies.fandom.com/wiki/Manila_Mint

https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/category/u-s-philippines-1903-1945/943

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_the_Philippines