50 Sentimos Marcelo H. Del Pilar, pattern

Pattern coinage from the Central Bank's mid-1960s design trials rarely makes it into specialist collections, but this piece documents a road not taken. Del Pilar, the radical propagandist whose La Solidaridad writings helped fuel the ilustrado reform movement against Spanish colonial rule, was under active consideration for Philippine circulating coinage before the series was finalized. He didn't make the cut for regular issue.

KM#PnB28 is one of several copper patterns struck that year as the Central Bank auditioned portrait subjects and module sizes simultaneously.