Dennis wrote:

I asked:

Great question, and I don't have a tidy answer!

US/Philippine coins have been featured in the Red Book since 1960. They've always been cataloged therein with the FILIPINAS side (as opposed to the UNITED STATES OFAMERICA side) set as the obverse. Of course, longstanding tradition alone isn't enough reason for "the ways things are done" in the Red Book, although it does carry someweight. (As we bibliomaniacs know, the Red Book has its share of peccadilloes; we constantly get letters and emails about "Why is this British token included in abook on U.S. coins?!" and sometimes the answer is simply, "That's what the hobby community has come to collect and regard as 'American' over the past 150 years.")

Regarding the USPI coins: I would have to check the legislation and early Mint/Treasury records to see if there was any official designation of which side was which. That mighthave been Yeoman's guide from the start, and I don't recall offhand (not that I was around back then!) if any reasoning was ever documented.

Interestingly, I had a conversation with QDB and some other folks this week about whether USPI coins should be considered "foreign coins struck by the United States."

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW BOOK: GUIDE BOOK OF U.S. TYPE COINS, 3RD ED. (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n43a02.html)