Struck to commemorate the opening of the U. S. Mint at Manila, USPI, the only Mint established outside the Continental U. S. Dies by George Morgan, struck at Manila to the extend of 3,700 pieces in Bronze and 2,200 in Silver. There are fewer of the Bronze pieces certified than the Silver, 131 at NGC and 49 PCGS in Bronze, versus 246 in Silver at NGC alone. This is due to the preference in 1920 by collectors for the Silver issue, and the fact that a huge percentage of the unsold Bronze issues were dumped into Manila Bay after the Japanese invasion in late 1941. As such, problem free Bronze HK-450’s that will certify are rare, as much because many that did not go into the water were exposed to the tropical Philippines climate and spotted or stained, thence being cleaned at some point. This is a spectacular piece for an AU-58, being the only example I have seen that retains small signs of original planchet color, visible inside Wilson’s ear and at his left eye. Just a minor degree of friction here and there, the small “defects” being more visible in the PCGS images than on the actual piece. The images shown also show this as lighter in color than in real life - this is actually a medium Chocolate Brown. This is also amazingly enough an old friend come home, a piece I sold in December 2025 and was able to purchase back. A good friend of mine is a preeminent collector of U. S. Philippines, owning maybe a dozen HK-450’s, so I have seen probably more better quality examples than most dealers. These are popular with both So Called Dollar collectors as well as those of U. S. Territorial issues. The growth of the U. S. Philippines collector market places a significant premium on this issue. Price wise, the auction record in the grade is $2,400, close to what Uncirculated PCGS examples have brought. The price span is solidly in the $2,000+ range for quality AU-58 to MS-63BN examples, as these are bought based upon surface quality and not necessarily specific grade. Please note that due to value this will likely require Registered Mail shipping, which is slower delivery time. Please be aware of this prior to considering a purchase.

PCGS 643970.58/51288158