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United States Coinage for the Philippine Islands: The "Commonwealth Reverse" Five Centavos of 1937 - 1945

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JAA

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Today's Journal entry is the seventh installment in my weekly series on the United States coinage for the Philippine Islands. The sixth of the twenty slots that compose a NGC USA-Philippines Type Set is the "Commonwealth Reverse" Five Centavos of 1937 - 1945.

The "Commonwealth Reverse" Five Centavos of 1937 - 1945 is the same size (19mm) and weight 75.16 Grains (4.75 grams) as the "Reduced Size & Weight" Five Centavos of 1930 -- 1935 and uses the same obverse design.

The Five Centavos obverse was designed by Filipino artist Melicio Figueroa and engraved by U.S. Mint Chief Engraver Charles Barber. The design shows a young Filipino male seated next to an anvil holding a hammer in his right hand, his left arm raised, and in the background to his left is a billowing volcano. The obverse carries the inscriptions "Five Centavos" and "Filipinas" (Spanish for Philippines).

In 1935 the United States Congress granted the Philippines Commonwealth Status and promised independence in 1946. To reflect the new status of the Philippines as a self governing Commonwealth, the reverse design of all regular issue USA-Philippines coins was changed in 1937 to depict the official seal of the "Commonwealth of the Philippines".

Design elements of the "Commonwealth Reverse" incorporate the rich history of the Philippines. The eagle perched atop the shield, of course, represents the United States. The shield used was an adaptation of a design used for the official seal of The Government of the Philippine Islands which appeared on Philippine paper money starting in 1905 (Allen 2008). The three stars at the top of the shield represent the three main geographical regions of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayas. The oval in the center of the shield depicts a modification of the Coat of Arms of the City of Manila which dates to 1596. A castle surmounted by a crown is in the upper portion of the oval. The mythical creature in the lower part of the oval is a half lion and half dolphin holding a sword with guard and hilt. The lettering on the Scroll beneath the shield reads Commonwealth of the Philippines.

The coins in this slot include business strikes from three different United States Mints.

The 1937 and 1938 Five Centavos were struck at the Manila mint. No Five Centavos were produced in 1939 and 1940. Five Centavo production resumed at the Manila mint in 1941. All of the Five Centavos struck at the Manila mint and have an "M" Mint Mark on the reverse to the left of the date.

No five Centavos were produced anywhere during 1942 through 1943 due to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.

During the 1942 through 1944 Japanese occupation of the Philippines nearly all coins disappeared from circulation. In the occupied areas the Japanese collected all of the coins melted them down and shipped them back to Japan. The few pre-war coins that escaped the melting pots were horded and hid away until after the war. Most daily commerce was conducted with low denomination paper currency (Emergency or Guerilla Currency) printed by Guerrilla military units, local municipalities, or Military and Civilian Currency Boards authorized by General MacArthur or the Commonwealth government-in-exile under President Quezon.

During the Japanese occupation there was a very active resistance movement in the Philippines and allied intelligence was very much aware, of the economic situation in the islands, and the need to bring new coins and currency with them when they liberated the Philippines.

In preparation for General MacArthur's return to the Philippines the Treasury Department ordered the Philadelphia, and San Francisco Mints to strike millions of Five Centavos coins. Five Centavos were struck at both the Philadelphia and San Francisco mints in 1944 and the San Francisco mint in 1945. The coins struck at the Philadelphia mint have no mint mark. The Five Centavos struck at the San Francisco mint have an S Mint Mark on the reverse to the left of the date.

The 1944 and 1945 Five Centavos use the same obverse and reverse designs as the pre-war Five Centavos but have a different Wartime composition.

The pre-war Five Centavos had a composition of Copper (75%) and Nickel (25%). Both Copper and Nickel are important strategic materials during wartime. Copper is needed for the production of shell casings and Nickel is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of armor plating for ships, tanks, etc. In order to conserve Copper and Nickel the wartime alloy of the Five Centavos was changed to Copper (65%), Zinc (23%), and Nickel (12%).

When American forces liberated the Philippines in 1944 - 1945 they brought with them the Wartime Alloy Victory Coins produced in the continental United States.

Mintage figures for the 1937 - 1945 Five Centavos are as follows: 1937-M (2,493,872), 1938-M (4,000,000), 1941-M (2,750,000), 1944-(P) (21,198,000), 1944-S (14,040,000) and 1945-S (72,796,000).

The "Commonwealth Reverse" Five Centavos has only one recognized die variety, the 1945-S Repunched 5 (Allen number 6.06a).

Strike Issues: According to the classical reference book "United States Territorial Coinage for the Philippine Islands" by Neil Shafer: "The 1937-1941 coins have the figure's left hand flat, while postwar issues have this hand struck up. Poor strikings are frequent on the earlier dates; obverses lack rim sharpness, sometimes show flattening of the figure's left shoulder, and lose detail on right side of volcano and left of pedestal. Reverses have much flattening of the ribbon, partial or almost complete obliteration of the words on the ribbon, and lack of detail on the Coat-of-Arms (especially top left side). The mint-mark style used for 1937 coins was a wide M with the middle point not coming down to the base of the two legs. In 1938, the style was changed to a narrower M with the midpoint even with legs. This changed style of mint-mark seems to have struck up more clearly -- yet in the next year of issue, 1941; the wide M was again used." (Shafer 1961, p.38-39)

All of the prewar Five Centavos (1937-M, 1938-M, and 1941-M) are difficult to find in Gem quality and well struck examples are even rarer. By contrast well struck Gem quality examples of wartime alloy Five Centavos (1944 (P), 1944-S, and 1945-S) are readily available on the internet or from dealers that specialize in USA-Philippine coins at very reasonable prices.

The attached picture shows my 1937-M USA-Philippines Five Centavos MS65.

This specimen has some very unusual strike characteristics: The obverse has a loss of detail on the right side of the volcano, and the left side of the pedestal which is typical 1937-1941 Five Centavos. There is a prominent Lamination (Mint Error) on the rim running from 12 o'clock to 5 o'clock. The lamination is highly raised with boldly struck dentils. When viewed in person the laminations are also far more prominent and interesting than in the pictures. The reverse has sharply struck center details but has a great lack of rim sharpness. The Castle with Crown and Half Lion/Half Dolphin in the central devise is the sharpest I have ever seen on a pre-war Commonwealth Five Centavos and all of the lettering on the scroll is readable. In contrast the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA is extremely weakly struck particularly the top parts of the lettering closest to the rim and the M mint mark is barely visible.

Although it does not show up in the photos this coin has exceptional eye appeal. In fact this specimen has the best eye appeal of any business strike

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