Owner Comments:
Lyman Allen #8.16 (KM #169) - Mintage: 3,863,038
General
From the time construction was authorized for the Philippine Mint in February 1918,
The Mint of the Philippine Islands was identified as a bureau of the Philippine Department of Finance, equal in stature to the Philippine Bureau of the Treasury. The Philippine economy was booming in 1918 primarily due to World War I because the Philippines was a major supplier of raw materials such as hemp for rope, coconut oil, and sugar. Demand for circulating coinage was high in the Philippines and all of the U.S. mints were at capacity producing U.S. coinage and coinage for Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, and Siam(modern day Thailand). Worldwide demand for these raw materials fell dramatically when the war ended. That, combined with bad monetary policy on the part of the U.S. administration and corruption at the Philippine National Bank sent the Philippine Islands into a severe economic crisis that would not begin to turn around until 1922.
As the economic crisis of the period worsened, the Philippine legislature passed appropriations Act No. 2935 on January 15, 1921 which provided Php246,295 for mint operations in 1921, but also contained a provision allowing transfer of the Mint to the Bureau of the Treasury. The mint operated for the first eleven months at full production and at half production during the month of December 1921 with a total production of 17,436,798 coins in all denominations from one centavos through 50 centavos with a total face value of Php2,092,624.32. Gilbert Perez had reported that the mint was capable of producing 85,000 coins per day with an annual capacity of 25,000,000. The level of production in 1921 did not even come close to the capacity reported by Perez and would not be reached again until the birth of the Commonwealth. In all of its years of operation, 1921 was one of the most productive year for the Mint of the Philippine Islands and one of only two years in which all circulating denominations were produced.
On November 1, 1921, the Council of State exercised the provision of Act No. 2935, demoting the Philippine Mint to become a division of the Bureau of the Treasury. The secretary of finance then designated the chief of the cash division, as superintendent of the mint. At the time of the transfer, the mint had 59 employees, but just two months later only 35 remained. By June 28, 1922, the number of employees had been reduced to 11 and by April 13, 1923, only 3 employees remained. In less than 24 months, the new Philippine Mint was completely shut down awaiting the rebound of the Philippine economy and a return in demand for new circulating coinage.
The number of ten centavos coins struck in 1921 was the largest annual quantity produced in the 22 year life of the mint.
Varieties
None reported for this date.
This coin
This particular coin is a relatively well struck and pleasingly white example of this date. It's taken many years for me to find one of this quality.
Date acquired: 10/31/2019 (already graded by NGC)
References
- Shafer, N. "United States Territorial Coinage for the Philippine Islands." Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1961.
Rev. 11/24/2020