1944 Phillipine Penny And Half Penny

What I can tell you about these is that following WW2, the Philippines fell back into American control from the Japanese. After such a time America began minting coins for the island nation until 1945. There were about 58 million 1 centavo coins made that year. In good condition you'll get about .25 for it. You'll find other post WW2 American minted Philippine coins made of Silver. Those command a bit more for their bullion value.

The bottom coin is that of Britains half penny featuring Sir Francis Drakes 3 masted ship. Not entirely sure why they featured him other than for their superiority of the oceans...Who knows. It's value? Heck, I don't know...maybe .25 to a buck? Nothing outrageous though.

You might use these coins to start up a collection of your own of world coins. I myself am a collector of world coins and banknotes. Good hunting!

Correction. The Philippines came under USA control in 1898, following the
Spanish-American War. The Philippines U.S. Commonwealth after 1935. Before WWII we promised to leave in 1946, and we eventually did so. The right place for these coins is with "Grandpa's stuff." The real value is its family history value, more so than the collector value. IMHO.

Good point. You are correct, no botch. My comments should be termed more of a clarification and expansion of your comments than a correction. My hope is that the reader should catch the broader context for US labeled coins in The Philippines. Fascinating coins, and fascinating history. I wrote an article for Family Chronicle Magazine about veteran bring back coins, and how too often they lose their context when they are dropped into a coin collection.

Interesting. I'm not going all that way (getting rid of all my other stuff), but I'm headed in that direction. I've been collecting WWII occupation currencies as a start. There are several good books on "military money." I'd like to pick up a good reference book on occupation coins of WWII. Have you heard of such a thing? I'd include my Hawaii banknote, silver nickel, and steel penny, even though they aren't occupation currencies. I'm restoring a 1943 Jeep, and a display like that would go along great with my jeep.

Has anyone heard of a good book on WWII "occupation" coins?

That is incorrect. The last US-struck coins for the Philippines Commonwealth were the MacArthur commemorative 50 Centavos and 1 Peso struck at San Francisco in 1947. The US also struck a number of coins for the Republic of the Philippines from 1948-1977.

Thanks for the tip. I'll chase the book. I have a thread on this forum about silver that was found that I am blowing off. Funny, the two MacArthur coins are in the collection. Maybe I'll buy them for myself.

I never wrote a review of the book can give you the quickie version.

I am a coin collector and like the cheap zinc, aluminum, iron, etc coins that are in junk boxes. These are often from WWII or WWI period.

I bought the book still unopened for ~$60 on ebay, so it's not that hard to find. It is from 1995. Therefore the prices may not be accurate but the relative rarity is.

I was most interested in the coins. Only 10-15% of the book relates to coins, so that was a minor disappointment. There is also a helpful chart or appendix that sums up all of the coinage.

However the rest of the book was not just paper money, it was ration tokens, prisoner camp money, war medals, military certificates, savings bonds, etc.

There are also some descriptive paragraphs at the beginning of each section. Things like the role of Thailand in WWII, or the use of silver coins in Ethiopia, which were interesting.

So it's a good numismatic reference for an interested collector or dealer.