Owner Comments:

Lyman Allen #8.13 (KM #169) - Mintage 8,420,000

General
At the outset of 1918, the United States was fully involved in World War I and consequently, the Philippine economy continued to boom due to the demand for raw materials such as hemp for rope, coconut oil, and sugar. The U.S. Mint had managed to expand it's operations to meet its domestic coinage demands, foreign coinage obligations, and the demands for circulating coinage in the Philippine Islands. Silver prices had receded slightly in 1917, but again rose past the par value of the silver coinage in April 1918 and remained above par value until June 1920. Laws were enacted by the Philippine legislature to keep the coinage in the county and to prohibit its melting domestically. Enforcement was actually very effective and relatively few of the silver coins of the period were exported or melted locally. Hoarding was however a significant contributing factor to the disappearance of circulating silver coinage.

In spite of hoarding due to the the rising silver prices, the quantity of coins provided by the San Francisco mint early in 1918 was sufficient to satisfy the needs of daily commerce in the islands. More 10 centavos coins were minted in 1918 than in any other year except for 1944 and 1945. As a result the emergency fractional notes issued in the Fall of 1917 were gradually retired as they were returned to the banks.

Another little known fact is that from 1917 through 1941, virtually ALL silver coinage struck at the mints in San Francisco and Manila was recoined from reduced size and weight silver pesos that had been struck between 1907 and 1912. Roughly 3.4 million of these silver pesos where melted and recoined by the San Francisco mint in 1918 alone.

This Coin
This is a very nice example for this date. Notice the die crack from the right wing tip to the rim on the reverse.

Varieties
None reported for this date.

Date acquired: 10/21/2012 (already graded by PCGS)

References
- Shafer, N. "United States Territorial Coinage for the Philippine Islands." Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1961.

Rev. 11/25/2020