The Manila Mint (Spanish: Real Casa de la Moneda y Timbre de Manila) was a branch of the United States Mint, located in Manila, now the capital city of the Philippines.
Originally constructed from 1857 through 1861 under the auspices of the Spanish government, the "Casa de Moneda" (as it was called then) began issuing gold coinage in the denominations of one, two, and four Pesos in 1861.
Shortly after the Spanish-American War and a brief insurgency by the Filipinos, the country became a United States possession. Unlike all other territories taken by the United States, the United States soon began to produce a special coinage for the Philippines. To encourage circulation, the denominations were modeled on those produced by the Spanish, namely a silver Peso similar to that minted in Madrid in 1897, denominations of fifty, twenty (instead of twenty-five), and ten Centavos, and a one Centavo similar in size to some pattern cents minted by the Spanish.
On July 4, 1946, the era of the Commonwealth ended as independence was granted to the Philippines as a sovereign nation. |
