In 1898 the Spanish-American broke out after the sinking of a USS Maine in the Havana, Cuba harbor. It was a relatively short war lasting only several months but ended with Spain freeing Cuba, also giving Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to United States. Puerto Rico and Guam became US territories but the Philippines opted to be independent once they were ready.
So from 1898 the government became the U.S. Military Government of the Philippines shifting to an Insular Government in 1901 run mainly by people of the Philippines. During this period they had US protection from the Japanese which the local people had feared would try to incorporate them. The currency to be used in the Philippines was at first produced in the US before the Manila mint was ready to produce coinage. What is interesting about coins from this period is they are United States of America coins made at either Philadelphia, San Francisco, or eventually the Manila mint.
In 1935 the Commonwealth of the Philippines was formed granting independence to the people of the Philippines. This coin I'm sharing today came from the insular period and was minted in San Francisco. This is pulled from some of my old scans of my coins on my laptop.
About the coin:
Country: Philippines (Insular Government)
Denomination: 20 centavos
Mint: San Francisco, California
Composition: silver 75 percent/ copper 25 percent
Diameter: 20.86 mm
Weight: 4 grams
Edge: Reeded
Mintage: 795,000
Obverse: Eagle with spread wings above a shield
Reverse: Woman with a hammer and volcano in the background
Demonetized: yes
Not the prettiest coin I own by any means but I bought it for the history more than anything. Even though they are only 75% percent silver they are nice coins to collect. They usually aren't too expensive but these days anything silver seems to have a premium. Some in mint state condition from the Manila mint are really expensive due to rarity. I don't have a collection of these but it might be fun to start. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below and thank you for stopping by!
References:
Numista
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces4351.html
Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_Government_of_the_Philippine_Islands
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And the Wheel of Names results:
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