The United States Mint and Philippine Coinage

Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded the Philippine Islands to the United States as an unincorporated territory. The Philippine Organic Act of 1902 established a civil government for the archipelago, with Section 79 granting authority to issue minor coins. Congress amended the Act in March 1903 to establish a stable monetary system and authorize silver coinage.

Between 1903 and 1945, the United States struck coins destined for the islands. These pieces were produced in Philadelphia from 1903 through 1908; in San Francisco from 1903 through 1919 and again from 1944 until 1945; and in Denver from 1944 until 1945. The United States also established a mint facility in Manila – the only official U.S. branch mint ever operated outside the continental United States. Coins were struck in Manila from 1920 until 1941, with the coins minted between 1925 and 1941 bearing the “M” mint mark, such as the five centavos coin depicted here. The facility was utilized as a fortified stronghold by the Japanese during World War II and was destroyed by American artillery when U.S. forces retook the city in 1945.

Following independence, the United States minted a limited number of legal-tender commemorative coins in 1947 bearing the image of General Douglas MacArthur. Between 1947 and 1958, the new sovereign Philippine government did not issue circulating coins, instead relying heavily on a fractional paper currency system. In 1958, the Republic contracted with the United States government to manufacture its regular coinage, a relationship that continued into the mid-1960s.

By 1964, the United States Mint struggled with domestic coinage shortages and could not produce enough coinage for the Philippine government, prompting the Republic of the Philippines to seek assistance from Great Britain and West Germany to supplement production. To prioritize pressing domestic needs, the United States Mint suspended acceptance of new foreign manufacturing orders, including renewal of the Philippine contract, effectively freezing further production of Philippine coinage. This ended a six-decade era in which the U.S. had served as the primary architect of Philippine coinage, evidencing the severity of the United States Mint’s difficulties during this period. The United States Mint minted this five-centavo piece.

The United States resumed minting foreign coinage in 1968 and, between 1974 and 1975, while the U.S. Mint was transitioning circulating-coin operations out of the San Francisco Assay Office and redirecting supplemental Lincoln Cent production to West Point, it again manufactured circulating proof and business-strike coinage for the Republic of the Philippines at the San Francisco Assay Office.

References

Bureau of the Mint. Annual Report of the Director of the Mint for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1964. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964. https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/514149.

Bureau of the Mint. Annual Report of the Director of the Mint for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1965. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1965. https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/514150.

Numismatic Guaranty Company. “USA Coin Album: America’s Far-East Coinage.” NGC News and Announcements, February 9, 2021. https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/8864/usa-coin-album-philippines-coins.

Professional Coin Grading Service. “U.S. Philippines Coinage (1903-1945).” PCGS CoinFacts. Accessed August 6, 2026. https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/category/u-s-philippines-1903-1945/943.

United States Department of the Treasury. “Mint Secures Philippines Coinage Production Order.” United States Mint Historical Documents Archive. Accessed August 6, 2026. https://www.usmint.gov/learn/history/historical-documents/mint-secures-philippines-coinage-production-order.