In the June 1965 issue of Coins magazine, regular contributor Walter Hazzard delved into the story of the U.S. coins for the Philippines minted from 1903 to 1946.
“United State coinage for the Philippine Islands form a unique 43-year chapter in numismatic history …” Hazzard wrote. “Although the Philippines came under American sovereignty in 1898, there was a five year wait before new coins were struck. During that time the old Spanish colonial pieces remained the only coins in the islands. It took just about that long for things to settle down.
“In the spring of 1898, Admiral George Dewey sailed into Manila bay and wiped out the Spanish fleet. Shortly thereafter, a large army contingent arrived. The chief difficulties arose not with the Spaniards but with the natives.
“For some years the Filipinos had itched to break loose from Spain, just as had the Cubans. Like the Cubans, they had a revolution in the mid-90s. The Americans were first greeted as liberators. Then, when it became obvious that freedom from Spain meant ownership by America (the Treaty of Paris ceded the islands), the large Filipino insurrectionist forces began fighting the U.S. army.
“For a while the major American contingent under Arthur MacArthur, father of the famed World War II general, was besieged in Manila by Emilio Aguinaldo’s forces. U.S. reinforcements made the Filipinos resort to
