MacArthur Commemorative Coin (1947)

After a long time of not having anything to post, I've decided to include my coin collection just to add something new this time. This particular set of coins that I'll be sharing is a commemorative one and the following info you'll read came from "Coins, Medals and Tokens of the Philippines 1728-1974 " by Aldo P. Basso.

The 1947 peso and 50-centavo coins commemorate the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The designer was Laura Gardin Fraser, whose initials appear under the bust of MacArthur. Both coins were weakly struck in low relief at the San Francisco mint. They were the first coins struck for the new republic.

50-Centavos (27mm, 75% Silver, 25% Copper)

MINTAGE(Number of coins made): 200,000

OBVERSE(front): Defender and Liberator/Gen-Douglas/Mac-Arthur divided by bust facing right/Of the Philippines.

REVERSE(back): Pilippines/ Coat of arms of the Republic/1947/Fifty Centavos. (S mintmark below date).

One Peso (36mm, 80% Silver, 20% Copper)

MINTAGE: 100,000 pieces

OBVERSE: Similar above, except the size change.

REVERSE: Similar to above, except One Peso.

Just forgive the last scan cause I had a hard time fixing this one. I hope you learned something from this post and till next time...

5 Peso Victory Note

It's been a while after my last post and after fixing some few drawbacks last week causing my entire files to be accidentally deleted that is composed mostly of scanned collection pictures. Anyway this feels like starting all over again, especially with the picture editing part. At least now that is everything is back to normal, I can continue sharing some of my collection again.

This one is part of the Victory series during the American period and this particular 5 Peso denomination is the only one that bears two portrait instead of one in the entire series. As you can see at the left side of the note bears the portrait of William McKinley and on the right side shows the portrait of George Dewey.

During the earlier issues of the same denomination and only the picture of McKinley is seen, but in this one, Dewey's portrait was added for a reason. It seems that this a way of paying tribute to Dewey as a hero during the Spanish-American war.

I've got some information from Wikipedia telling about Dewey and his role as part of the Philippine history:

" On April 27, 1898, he sailed out from China with orders to attack the Spanish at Manila Bay. He stopped at the mouth of the bay late the night of April 30, and the following morning he gave the order to attack at first light, by saying the now famous words "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley." Within 6 hours, on May 1, he had sunk or captured the entire Spanish Pacific fleet under Admiral Patricio Montojo y Pasarón and silenced the shore batteries at Manila, with the loss of only one life on the American side. News of the victory in the Battle of Manila Bay made Dewey a great hero in the United States, and Dewey was promoted to Rear Admiral. Dewey's swift easy victory no doubt did much to encourage the William McKinley administration in its decision to place the Philippines under American control."

Another type of this note got the CENTRAL BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES printed in red at back portion of the note and still having the same design as above. These two notes circulated during the time Sergio Osmeña(Philippine President during that time) as can be seen in the signature next to the serial number of the lower portion of the note.

I kind of notice that these notes seems to have slight burn in one side and maybe someone got the chance to saved it in time before getting destroyed somehow. I'm just lucky though that these are still in somewhat good condition as it seems to be scarce nowadays.

As a last part of this post, I would like to thank Mr. Coolpit for the accommodation last Saturday and for the other collectible items that I've got from him that I will share some other time. Also I would like to thank my uncle for having the back-up copies of the scanned pictures I'm showing. Lucky for me that he is collector as well, thus keeping the picture files safe and sound. Well that's all for now and I'll post again during some free time and thanks for having some time reading this one.

Special Philippine Stamp Issues (with designer signature)

As to give way on my other collections that I have, I'll now share this uncommon philatelic items from the Philippines. Normally one would acquire stamp in singles, blocks or even in sheet but this one's are really different. Personally, I'm not really into stamp collection before and I'm just appreciating such stuff recently while exploring other things to collect other than Philippine money.

This set of stamps came from my collector friend, Mr. Coolpit and it seems that his passion for collecting things influenced me somehow and now I am also appreciating different items other than my earlier collection.

As you can see, the set below seems to be just your average stamps placed in a envelope cover but the difference is that it not a cover(just a piece of hard paper) and it bears the signature of the stamp designer (namely: "Nemesio Dimanlig Jr."). I haven't really seen such manner of presenting stamps before and for me, this is what make these items interesting to have.

The first item depicts Andres Bonifacio(a Filipino hero) and holding an itak(large knife, bolo) while a revolutionary flag is set behind him. There are three different denominations given for these stamps: 5 Centavos, 6 Centavos and 25 Centavos. Another thing that is unusual about this one is that it also tells that Helio Corvoisier S.A., Switzerland printed these stamps.

The next one shows a stamp with the picture of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay having a quoted statement written in Filipino with English translation saying:

"NANINIWALA AKO NA ANG TAONG KAPOS SA BUHAY AY DAPAT PUNAN SA BATAS."

Translated in English as:

-"I BELIEVE THAT HE WHO HAS LESS IN LIFE SHOULD HAVE MORE IN LAW."

This one was printed by the Government Printing Bureau, Japan and has the denomination of 6 and 30 Centavos.

For now, this is the only information I can provide and if anyone would like to share any other additional info about this and also about my previous posts, please you are very welcome to do so and I would gladly include it in my post. this is for the stamp category for now and I hope you'll appreciate it as well.

1942 Iloilo Province Error(Misspelled) note

After getting busy again this past few weeks and now that I'm already relaxed and I've got some time to post again. This is another error note that I would like to share.

Although I was not able to discuss the group wherein this note is included, I'll just post it some other time. This one belongs to the Iloilo Province 1942 issue and it has a misspelling under Roosevelt portrait. Instead of ROOSEVELT, this one has ROOSAVELT printed.

To see a better detail of the error, I've edited and cut the portion of the note showing the portrait with the misspelling underneath. You can see that the distinct letter "A" in triangle like appearance replacing the letter "E".

As to give a better comparison. This one below is the normal one where "E" is seen.

Up to now, I'm still trying to find this type of error in consecutive serial numbers, although it seems that it is not that easy to find at all. Well this just my post for now and I'll try to post again soon. Thanks for having some time reading this one.

Luzon USAFFE Guerilla Army Forces Note 1942

Finally I was able to post again despite my busy schedule during the past two weeks. I’m sharing these set of notes which I've got from Mr. Coolpit (friend collector) and the info came from "Philippine emergency and guerrilla currency of World War II" by Shafer Neil (finally I was able to visit the National Library just to have an additional info) and I would also like to thank lumang.gamit of E-bay Philippines for letting me use the info about USAFFE Guerilla Army Forces that is included in his listing.

Here is the info regarding these notes:

Official records indicate that two denominations of this issue were made- 100 Pesos and 500 Pesos. This note got a highly significant text(in essence the story of guerilla currency) creates a very high desirability ratio for the note. It is in fact one of the most important in the entire series.

Face: Black print, black serial numbers and two signatures as follows:

W.H. Stephens, Captain, U.S. Army

Walter M. Cushing, Major, U.S. Army

Newspaper shot of Roosevelt at left, eagle in V emblem at right with motto KEEP’EM FLYING. The same emblem and motto form the embossed seal in center. Additionally, the embossed text includes the following: MAJOR WALTER CUSHING GUERILLAS. Date of issue is February 22, 1942.

100 Pesos (face):

The significant text reads: FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES AND BY AUTHORITY OF U.S. CONGRESS, AND BY PROCLAMATION OF PRESIDENT F.D. ROOSEVELT IT IS HEREBY ORDERED ISSUANCE OF THIS EMERGENCY CURRENCY OF ONE HUNDRED PESOS( or FIVE HUNDRED PESOS) AS LEGAL TENDER FOR OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE OF THE MAJOR WALTER CUSHING GUERILLAS, UNDER GENERAL MACARTHUR AND PRESIDENT QUEZON, TO BE REDEEMED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES THRU THE PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT, AFTER THE WAR. TO REFUSE THIS EMERGENCY CURRENCY IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW.

Back: Black print, value in center.

Size: 163/67mm.

Paper: Plain lightweight pink.

100 Pesos(back):

About USAFFE Guerilla Army Force

Walter Mickey Cushing was a mining engineer and part owner of the Rainbow gold mining properties in Abra Province. He was the first recorded a guerilla force, for which he used his mine employees. The first guerilla action took place on New Year’s Day, 1942. His exploits brought him to the attention of Col. John P. Hora, Commanding Officer of the 43rd infantry, Philippine Scout, operating in Mountain Province. He was commissioned a Major by Col. Horan and given authority to organize guerilla forces in Abra and the Ilocos Provinces. Cushing’s guerilla had no formal designation until after the fall of Bataan, at which time it was designated the 121st Infantry by Gen. Wainwright.

Maj. Cushing died by his own hand on September 19, 1942 after being badly wounded in a Japanese ambush. He preferred death to surrender and saved his last cartridge for himself. His guerilla operations had already made him a legend in northern Luzon, and even the Japanese paid him honor for the manner in which he died.

500 Pesos(face):

Little his known about the currency issued by Major Cushing. The notes were probably printed by Saint Mary the Virgin Mission press in Sagada, Mountain Province, which also printed the mountain Province notes and was the only press in north Luzon capable of doing such printing. There is no way to confirm this as the press and records were destroyed during the war. There reportedly were 2,385,154 pesos issued, but the accuracy of this figure is questionable.

500 Pesos(back):

I must say that I'm really proud to have these notes as part of my collection and I'm interested about the history behind it and according again to the reference book, these notes were apparently made without proper authorization and was not recognized by the Philippine Congress and also not redeemable under Republic Act. No. 369. Despite that however, it seems that they must have gained a degree of acceptance during the war since they were well known at war's end.

Please be also aware, according to Lumang.gamit of E-bay that there are also counterfeits coming out of the market. I'm lucky to have mine as genuine and it seems that the notes I have and lumang.gamit came from one source basing from the similar fold each note had and the name HIDALGO(not sure why) marked at the back of each note. By the way, I've edited this scan a bit, that's why it looks darker and details are easily noticed, compared to the original color which lighter.

Supposedly you've encountered one these notes among your hidden possessions, as a good advice of El Filipino of FilipinoForum.net: "Keep it under lock and key( for me it is as to say preserve it well). Those currencies used during the WWII, invasion, occupation and liberation years have important stories to be told for our national history database." You can read the discussion here:

http://www.filipinoforum.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=544&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

I'll discuss the topic about the USAFFE counterfeit in another post, provided with pictures coming from lumang.gamit. I hope this gave you insight about Philippine paper money. I'm also hoping to post another soon and to cope with the busy sched I'm having right now. If you got any additional info regarding my posts, please let me know so that I can include it as well and I'll be grateful to acknowledge your contribution in this blog. Thanks for spending some time reading this post.

2 Peso Victory Note

Here is a 2 Peso Treasury Certificate of the "Victory series", still in such good condition where details are still sharp for such an old note. I've got this one from E-bay at a very affordable price, despite that this type of note is becoming uncommon nowadays.

This note bears the portrait of Dr. Jose Rizal(Philippines National Hero) and was signed by President Sergio Osmeña. This note is payable in Silver Pesos or in legal tender currency of the United States of equivalent value.

Up to now, I'm still searching for another type of this note with the Central Bank overprint at the back, and it seems to be more uncommon and personally I haven't seen one yet. Just in case I've found one, then it will be surely posted here for all to see. Thanks again for looking and visiting my blog.

1928 5 Pesos (BPI Note)

This note still came from Mr. Coolpit(friend collector) and I'm glad that finally, I've done editing this one to be posted at this time.

This 5 Peso is another variety of the Bank of the Philippines Islands wherein women are used in the design of the money. As I've discussed in previous post before, these notes are sometimes called as the "Buntis(Pregnant)" by some of the sellers of paper money in Manila.

The woman in the picture is depicted sitting and holding some sort of rice crop(although hardly seen due to the note's condition) in her left hand and some small flowers on the right.

The back seems to be quite faded, but it still good and details can still be seen somehow.

This note and other ones included in such types seems to show strong influence of U.S. during those times. Although local figures(Filipino heroes) are depicted in other issues and usually seen in 1 Peso and 2 Pesos, the majority and higher denomination bears U.S figures at most. Upon closer look of this note, details are beautiful to look at and it seems to be one of the good characteristics of older notes in the Philippines.

I hope you can appreciate this one as well and at least know something about Philippine's former currency. By the way, you can say your comment on what you think about this post, ask questions that I might able to help in answering and even suggest what you want to see, just in case I have it in my collection. Well that's all for now and thanks for having some time in visiting my blog!

Cagayan Province Large Denomination (3rd Issue) Guerilla Money

Reference: "Philippine emergency and guerrilla currency of World War II" by Shafer Neil.

The following notes are the third printing of Cagayan's Series. According to the reference, this is the final issue and were several printings; size changed for some lower denominations, while color and plate changes took place with various higher denominations. No notes of this series are dated.

The following details are for large size denominations (1 Peso and higher) only and I’ll include the lower denominations soon as I've finished editing them.


General Characteristics:

Face: Rubber plate, flying eagle in center, two purple printed serial numbers, printed text, signatures and titles in black or green. Handwritten initial under each serial number. Text (in generally unreadable Gothic type) is as follows:

“THIS CERTIFIES THAT THERE HAS BEEN DEPOSITED IN THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK THE EQUIVALENCE OF (ONE PESO/ OTHER DENOMINATION) PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND AFTER THE WAR.”

Each note is titled: EMERGENCY CERTIFICATE.

Back: Plate print, Roman and Gothic text; Gothic as follows:

“ISSUED BY AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINES AND THE PROVINCIAL BOARD OF CAGAYAN. REFUSAL TO ACCEPT THIS NOTE IS PUNISHABLE BY LAW.”

Extra handwritten number underneath. Text in black or green.

Size: 157/67mm.

Paper: Plain light brown.

1 Peso (1st type):

Purple with black text face and back.

1 Peso (2nd type):

Green with black text face and back.





1 Peso (3rd type):

This one got a different back plate and a smaller size Gothic type. It is also slightly differ in color than the first type.

2 Pesos:

Olive green with larger or smaller Gothic text.




5 Pesos (1st type):

Tan with green text face and back.

5 Pesos ( 2nd type):

Got the same face design and the back is completely different showing Statue of Liberty, buildings, hills, plants.

20 Pesos (1st type):

Green with black text and the back shows Mt. Mayon(Known volcano in the Philippines) and native scenes.

20 Pesos (2nd type):

Green with black text and no design at the back, only text and border.

Supposedly there is a 10 Pesos reported according to the reference, although during that time, no specimens have been located in any collection. If there is during this time, then it could be hard to find and probably would cost a lot.

It seems that these type of notes that came from Luzon area are not commonly found, compared from the Vizayas and Mindanao area which can be found easier, but still this is not the basis of telling that they are rare or not. It will still depend upon other factors that leads to such category.

I"m very thankful that I was able to have these notes from Mr. Coolpit cause I really didn't think that I'll have these much earlier than I expected cause back then, I was reading the reference about these notes and now I'm actually keeping them as well. I want to preserve these pieces of history, hoping that others will appreciate them today and in the future.

1 Peso Victory Note

The following information about the Victory notes came from the site http://www.raleighcoinclub.org/. This is a part of Raleigh Coin Club Newsletter(September 2003) as I think this would be helpful in this topic.

In October of 1944, MacArthur (along with the US Army and Navy) did return to the Philippines. By February of 1945, the islands were secured and the Philippine Islands were once again under American sovereignty. Carried along with the American forces was a new issue of Treasury Certificates to reestablish the US-Philippine monetary system on the islands.

These notes, while maintaining the designs of the pre-WWII issues, were distinguished from previous notes by the overprinting of “VICTORY” on the back of each note. “Victory Notes,” as they have come to be called, were issued in denominations of one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred and five hundred pesos.

Like the older issues of Treasury Certificates, this one also got smaller text found in the upper border that applies to all victory notes which says: BY AUTHORITY OF AN ACT OF THE PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE, APPROVED BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 1922.

This 1 Peso note bears the portrait of Apolinario Mabini, A Filipino Hero who is often referred to as "the Sublime Paralytic", and as "the Brains of the Revolution".To his envious enemies, he is referred to as the "Dark Chamber of the President" (from Wikipedia.org). This was note was signed by President Sergio Osmeña was the second President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines during that time.

The next one peso is another type of victory with an additional overprint at the back.

Reference: "Philippine emergency and guerrilla currency of World War II" by Shafer Neil. Seen in the appendix of the brief summary of Philippine paper money.

Independence was granted to the Philippines on July 4, 1946 but the new nation was not yet ready to supply its population with a centralized new currency. Treasury Certificates of U.S. manufacture continued to be issued until the establishment of the Central Bank of the Philippine on June 15, 1948. The Bank overprinted some VICTORY series notes at first as you can see in this 1 peso.

They added CENTRAL BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES in red ink at the back as the beginning of a new change in Philippine notes.

During the next year(1949), after the print in Victory series, the Bank issued notes under its own name and bearing that date.

This note are often referred as the "English Series" wherein the pictures of these banknotes are in my previous post under the same label. I hope that this post can be something you learn from and perhaps this can be appreciated by others as well.

Japanese-Philippine Money 1st Issue

Reference: "Philippine emergency and guerrilla currency of World War II" by Shafer Neil. Seen in the appendix of the brief summary of Philippine paper money.

Japanese-Philippine Issues During World War II- "Mickey Mouse Money"

The Japanese wasted no time in proclaiming the validity and acceptability of the first issue of their invasion currency. Following is the text of an official proclamation by the Japanese army which is self-explanatory:

PROCLAMATION Jan. 3, 1942

The Imperial Japanese Army in the occupied areas, will use the war notes(military pass-money) endorsed and issued by the imperial Japanese Government. All the people residing within the concerned areas should be aware of the following:

1. The war notes (Military pass-money) have been issued by the Imperial Japanese Government and said government takes full responsibility for their usage having the correct amount to back them up.

2. Those who hold the war notes will be able to use them in making payments of all kinds.

3. If any one attempts to interfere with the circulation of the war notes (such as rejection of payment, forgery, or spreading the untrue nature of news concerning the war notes of any kind) his act will be considered hostile and will be punished severely.

4. The war notes and existing currencies, and foreign currency will be prohibited from exportation and importation for a while.

5. Kinds and classes of the war notes will e as follows:

10 peso-note, 5 peso-note, and notes of 1 centavo, 5 centavo, 10 centavo, and 50 centavo.

This first Japanese invasion issue was of a general nature similar in many respects to other invasion issues prepared for conquered areas like Malaya, Burma and the Netherlands East Indies.

For this post, I will be showing those include in the first issue.

1 Centavo:

5 Centavos:

This five centavo is encased in plastic that's why you can see some sort of tape at the back, probably done by the previous owner to protect the note from dust.


10 Centavos:



50 Centavos:

The notes of 50centavos and higher all show the same plantation scene on the face side.




1 Peso:

A 1 Peso was also issued though it is not mentioned in the Proclamation.


5 Pesos:




10 Pesos:

These notes seems to be produced in such large quantities that they became cheap. Even the higher denomination such as 500 Pesos and 1000 Pesos can be bought lower that its face value. I've seen bundles upon bundles of such notes being offered especially around Manila, from the worn and almost destroyed type, up to the desirable and uncirculated condition.

Despite that these money were somewhat degraded nowadays, still for me, this became an important change during that period and as to oppose the Japanese occupation, guerilla money were created. My earlier posts discussed some of the guerilla money that were used in different provinces in the Philippines.