Philippines · Insular Government · PNB Circulating Note
5 Pesos · Philippine National Bank · 1916
Face with William McKinley and the bank’s blue seal; orange reverse. Serial A2179586A, Mercado–Concepción signatures. Printed by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.
Catalog facts
- Pick reference
- P#46b
- Serial number
- A2179586A
- Signatures
- Santiago Mercado (Cashier) and Venancio Concepción (President)
- Condition
- Unslabbed (private collection)
- Printage
- 40,000 notes in A2175001A–A2215000A (B14.3C, numismatics.ph). Numista records 2,000,000 for P#46b (Mercado–Concepción).
Face
Back
The note
The Philippine National Bank 5-peso (P#46b; TBB B710) is a circulating note issued under Act No. 2612 of the Philippine Legislature, which created the bank in 1916. The face, black on a salmon underprint, shows William McKinley’s portrait at left, the promise to pay the bearer five pesos in lawful currency of the Philippine Islands, and the bank’s blue seal at right. The printed date is “SERIES OF 1916”; serial A2179586A appears twice. The signatures are Santiago Mercado (Cashier) and Venancio Concepción (President), the pairing the Bank Note Museum assigns to P#46b. The red-orange back centers “PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK CIRCULATING NOTE” and “FIVE PESOS.” The U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing engraved it, without an imprint. It is not this case’s 5-peso Victory Treasury Certificate (P#96a): a different issuer, statute, and serial. This example is unslabbed and shown in a rigid holder.
Scarcity and printage
numismatics.ph places this serial in band B14.3C (A2175001A–A2215000A; 40,000 notes). That band — and A1735001A–A1775000A and A1855001A–A1935000A — appears in Republic Act No. 211 (1948) as PNB notes captured and reissued by the Japanese military authorities; Republic Act No. 734 later authorized redemption of those that had been registered. Numista groups P#46b (Mercado–Concepción) at 2,000,000 notes, against 575,000 for P#46a (Ferguson–Willis), and marks a rarity index of 83. Star replacements (P#46r) are far scarcer. This record does not invent a printage beyond those published figures.
Population
A PMG or PCGS census for A2179586A has not been independently verified. The note is shown in original, unslabbed condition.
Sources
-
numismatics.ph — Philippine National Bank 5 Pesos
(opens in a new tab)
B14.2 / B14.3 serial bands and the captured-serial list (B14.3C = A2175001A–A2215000A).
- Numista — 5 Pesos PNB (blue seal, orange back), P#46 / TBB B710 (opens in a new tab)
- Bank Note Museum — Philippines P-46 (opens in a new tab)
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Republic Act No. 211 (1948)
(opens in a new tab)
Lists A2175001–A2215000 among the 5-peso PNB notes reissued by the Japanese military authorities.
- Republic Act No. 734 — redemption of PNB notes declared illegally issued (opens in a new tab)