Philippines Five Centavos 1903-1945

The five centavos was the copper-nickel coin of the Philippine coinage that Congress set up on March 2, 1903, and it carried the same pictures as the centavo: Melecio Figueroa's young man at the anvil with Mount Mayon behind him, and the American eagle on the United States shield. Philadelphia struck business coins dated 1903 and 1904 and the proofs for the sets of 1903 to 1908; the 1905, 1906 and 1908 dates are proofs only. No five centavos were then made for circulation until 1916.

San Francisco, which could coin the islands' base-metal pieces from 1908, made the five centavos of 1916 to 1919, each with an S. The Mint's calendar-year records give 300,000 for 1916, 2,300,000 for 1917, 2,780,000 for 1918 and 1,220,000 for 1919. Among the 1918 coins is the mule struck with a twenty-centavo reverse. The Manila Mint took over in 1920; its 1920 and 1921 coins have no mint mark, and those of 1925 to 1928 carry an M.

In 1930 Manila reduced the coin to about 19 mm and struck the smaller type through 1935. The Commonwealth arms replaced the eagle on the reverse in 1937, and Manila struck that type in 1937, 1938 and 1941. After Manila fell, the 1944 and 1945 five centavos were struck in the United States, at Philadelphia without a mint mark and at San Francisco with an S, in a new alloy of copper, zinc and nickel.

Obverse. The same seated youth with hammer and anvil as on the centavo, the volcano behind; FIVE CENTAVOS is above and FILIPINAS beneath.

Reverse. Through 1935, an eagle on the United States shield inside UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, with the date below. From 1937, the arms of the Commonwealth of the Philippines.

Size. Coins of 1903 to 1928 are the large type, about 20.5 mm in the Red Book table (Krause gives 21.3 mm). Coins from 1930 on are about 19 mm.

Mint mark. Check the reverse beside the date, on its left: an S means San Francisco and an M means Manila. A coin without a letter is from Philadelphia if dated 1903-1908 or 1944, and from Manila if dated 1920 or 1921.

• 1903 and 1904: the only Philadelphia business strikes before 1944, with proofs for both years; the 1905, 1906 and 1908 dates exist as proofs only (500 each for 1906 and 1908; Krause gives 471 for 1905).
• 1916-S: 300,000 struck, by the Mint's record for 1916.
• 1918-S mule (Allen-4.08b, FS-901): the five-centavo obverse with a twenty-centavo reverse. The date on the mule is smaller than on the regular five-centavo reverse, and Heritage (search) notes a wider rim and a larger eagle. The same year has a repunched S die, FS-501, numbered Allen-4.08aa in an NGC registry list and Allen-4.08a by Greysheet.
• Manila without a mint mark: 1920 and 1921.
• 1930-M: the first of the reduced size.
• 1934-M doubled die: PCGS lists this die as Allen-5.04aa ("DDO & RP1"): the doubling shows on AMERICA and the 1 of the date is repunched, both on the dated side, which PCGS calls the obverse and this guide the reverse; Greysheet gives the same PCGS number as Allen-5.04a, FS-301, repunched 1.
• 1937-M: the first Commonwealth five centavos, 2,493,872 by the Red Book's figure.
• 1944 (21,198,000), 1944-S (14,040,000) and 1945-S (72,796,000): the wartime coins, by the Mint's calendar-year records.

• 1903-1941: copper-nickel, 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel
• 1944-1945: 65 percent copper, 23 percent zinc and 12 percent nickel, which the Mint called nickel-silver
• Weight: sources differ. For the large type the Red Book table and CoinVarieties give 5.00 grams and the Krause catalogue 5.25 grams; for the reduced size they give 4.87 grams
• Diameter: about 20.5 mm (1903-1928; Krause 21.3 mm) and 19 mm (1930-1945)
• Edge: plain