A Red Book reader wrote in this week with a question about the section on Philippines coinage. He was disappointed that in recent years we've condensed that section from nine pages to five. This might be something that E-Sylum readers have noticed, as well.

I appreciate the correspondent's enthusiasm for the coins of the Philippines. As he noted, the coins struck by the U.S. Mint for the Philippines, under U.S. sovereignty, are an important part of our nation's numismatic history. Not only that, but they're official coins of the United States, struck on North American soil as well as in Manila, and legally exchangeable for U.S. dollars.

This is why we list the Philippines coins in the Red Book. Due to space constraints, we've had to condense the Philippines section, as noted. We did this by doubling up the layout of some charts, and showing only representative photos of the major coinage designs, rather than photos of every coin.

We've kept all of the mintage information and technical specifications for each denomination, as well as valuations. If space allows in future editions of the Red Book, we might be able to expand the Philippines section to include more photographs. In the meantime, I hope our readers agree that we've managed to make the best use of a finite number of pages by including as many photos as possible and all of the technical information available.

For E-Sylum readers interested in the rich history of the U.S. Mint in Manila, I highly recommend David W. Lange's History of the United States Mint and Its Coinage, which has an entire section on the subject. Richard Doty's America's Money, America's Story also includes information on our Filipino coinage. Both of these are Whitman books, and members of the American Numismatic Association can borrow them for free from the Dwight N. Manley Numismatic Library.