I came across this coin on ebay, and noticing it says it's face value is 5 centavos??? And it's from the u.s????? Is this real? And is it 90% silver???
The composition of the Five Centavos is .750 copper, .250 nickel . A few years after the Philippine Islands were acquired by the United States as part of a treaty with Spain, a coinage was established that was to be compatible with old Spanish issues and interchangeable with the U.S. dollar (one dollar was the equivalent of two Philippine pesos).
The 5 centavos coin pictured is made of copper nickle. The mint mark indicates that it was minted at the Manila mint (M). The Philippines was a US territory from the end of the Spanish American war (1898) till it attained its independence on July 4, 1946. Some Philippine coin where minted at the San Francisco mint, S mint Mark. Lou
These coins come from a very interesting and often forgotten part of US history/numismatics. I was pretty confused the first time I saw one too! But now, I have a near complete collection of them! 5 centavo pieces like this one were originally struck on US nickel planchets. But the mint made quite a few mistakes, switching 5 centavo dies with 20 centavo dies. (These were originally struck on US quarter planchets, but the size was reduced to keep the silver value down) In 1918, for example, at the San Fransisco mint, they switched the obverse die for the 5 centavo with the obverse die for the 20 centavo, creating a rare small-date variety. There are people out there who would argue that they should be included with the US series, myself included. But that's a whole different can of beans. :-D
With the Philippines being a US territory at the time I consider these U.S. coins. Tons of coins were dumped into the ocean in the early 40's to keep them out of the hands of the Japaneese. Yours looks like its had a rough life.
That looks like regular circulation wear, coupled with the humid climate it circulated it. Sea-damage looks more like this:
