Owner Comments:
Lyman Allen #3.06 (KM #179) - Total Mintage: 136,485,798
58,000,000 - minted August-December 1944
78,485,798 - minted January-March 1945 (still dated 1944)
The Philippine Mint in Manila sustained heavy damage on December 7, 1941 from Japanese aerial bombardment and additional damage in 1945 during the Battle of Manila which liberated the city. During the Japanese occupation, much of the coinage was seized and melted, so a nearly complete replacement was necessary.
In preparation for the liberation of the islands, the U.S. Treasury department ordered the U.S. Mints to strike all denominations from the one centavo through 50 centavos. While all three active mints were utilized for the task, the one centavo coins were struck exclusively in San Francisco. The San Francisco mint ceased production of Lincoln cents at the end of July 1944 to concentrate all of its copper based production on Philippine one-centavo coins. Production of one centavo coins began in August 1944 and continued through March 1945, with all centavos dated 1944. This is the only Commonwealth obverse One Centavo to be produced in San Francisco, yet, with over 136 million minted, this one date figure comes close to the entire one centavo production of the Manila mint!
Another unique aspect of this centavo is the change in its metallic composition exclusive to this year. Due to the war, this centavo was made without tin. The alloy was composed of 95% copper and 5% zinc.
Given the quantity minted, all levels of strike quality can be found. Many however can be found with a near perfect strike, including the word "of" in the scroll just above the date. As one might expect with a mintage this high, red gem pieces are relatively easy to obtain. This particular coin is an exceptionally well struck full red example of this otherwise very common date.
A common side effect of high mintage is often a significant number of identifiable varieties and the 1944-S Centavo is no exception. There are at least 4 well known varieties for this date detailed below.
Varieties
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ALLEN-3.06 - Normal date and mint mark.
ALLEN-3.06a - Doubled Die Reverse #1. The word "STATES" is noticeably doubled. This variety is recognized by both PCGS and NGC.
ALLEN-3.06aa - Doubled Die Reverse #2. There is doubling of the letters "IPPINES" in the scroll as well as of the scroll itself. The letters "AMERICA" (most noticeably the "M" and "C") are also doubled. This variety is not recognized by either PCGS or NGC. This variety is recognized by both PCGS and NGC.
ALLEN-3.06b - Base of last 4 missing at left side. This variety is recognized by PCGS but not by NGC.
Uncatalogued. - Triple punched last 4 in date. This variety is relatively well known, but has not been identified in the Allen catalog. It is not recognized by any of the major grading services. I have several of these and they are quite easy to recognize.
Date acquired: 9/14/2013 (raw coin)
Date graded: 1/3/2014 (self submitted to NGC)
Date regraded: 9/25/2018 (resubmitted to MS at NGC MS66RD ==> MS67RD)
References:
- Shafer, N. "United States Territorial Coinage for the Philippine Islands." Racine, Wisconsin: Whitman Publishing Company, 1961.
Rev. 9/17/2020