The first coins in the photo with the woman on the face of the coin were all produced and released during the American Colonial Period. This was prior to the establishment of the Central Bank of the Philippines in 1949.
Upon the creation of the Central Bank (1949-1992), the faces of the coins showed a series of Filipino heroes during the Spanish Colonial Era.
The ten centavo coins showed the face of Francisco Baltazar, a well renowned writer and poet who authored the famous book Florante at Laura.
The twenty-five centavo coins had the face of Juan Luna, a revolutionary artist who painted murals such as the Spolarium -- a painting depicting the suffering of the Filipinos under the reign of the Spaniards.
The fifty centavo coin shows the face of Marcelo H. Del Pilar, a writer who published La Solidaridad, which became an avenue for revolutionaries to voice out their grief and desire to fight the malevolent Spanish friars. The back of the coin shows the national animal -- the Philippine Eagle.
For interested collectors, please contact the Philippine Peso Collector through email at philippinepesocollector@gmail.com.
Due to a lack of use for very small denominations of the peso, one centavo coins are no longer produced by the BSP. The leftmost one centavo coin was used during the American Colonial Period, while the next three were produced in the latter half of the century showing the face of the first recorded Filipino hero, Datu Lapu-lapu of Mactan, who fought against the Spaniards and prevented their entry to the Philippines in the early 1500s.
Five centavo coins are still in circulation today. The modern coin (not in photo) is a small bronze-colored coin with a circular hole in the middle. The first two 5-centavo coins in the photo are both from the American Colonial Period with the same man in the face of the coin, but differed in size. The next two, produced also in the latter half of the century showed the face of Melchora Aquino, a female hero in the Spanish Colonial Era also referred to as "Tandang Sora".
For interested collectors, please contact the Philippine Peso Collector through email at philippinepesocollector@gmail.com.
