The BSP Logo

UPDATE: Check out the New BSP logo

The logo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) adorns the reverse of all (except the 5-sentimo) coins of the New BSP Series. It is also featured in banknotes printed since 1993.

The BSP seal is a composite of the Filipino flag, the risen sun and mountains framed by a wheel and ringed by the inscription, "THE BANGKO SENTRAL NG PILIPINAS."

The FLAG symbolizes the country and expresses the Filipino people's nationalism and unity.

The RISEN SUN signifies the bright future and renewed spirit of the nation.

The MOUNTAINS represent stability and the WHEEL signifies movement and industry, the key to the nation's economic progress.

About the Bangko Sentral

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is the central bank of the Republic of the Philippines. It was established on 3 July 1993 pursuant to the provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution and the New Central Bank Act of 1993. The BSP took over from the Central Bank of Philippines, which was established on 3 January 1949, as the country’s central monetary authority. The BSP enjoys fiscal and administrative autonomy from the National Government in the pursuit of its mandated responsibilities.

Feeling the Coin Edges

There are two sides of a coin. Other than that, they also have an edge.

Coin edges were originally reeded (or milled) as a security measure to prevent coin clipping. Some people used to shave off the edges of gold and silver coins and later melt the shavings into bullions. This would usually go unnoticed. However, with the grooves at the sides of the coin, coin clipping would become more noticeable.

Current Philippine coins are not intrinsically valuable and perhaps nobody would bother clipping them. There is still, however, another use for the reeded edges.

The edges of Philippine coins are designed to help differentiate the different denominations. Fumbling for the right coin can be challenging in the dark, and more especially for the blind. Sometimes, the five peso coin can be mistaken for the ten peso coin. The size of the 5 and 10 peso coins may be very similar but their edges are very different.

The edge of the 10 peso coin is reeded while the five peso coin's edge is plain. As you go down the denominations, you will see the pattern. One peso is reeded, 25 sentimo is plain, ten cents reeded, and 5 sentimo is plain (The one sentimo is also plain but the 5 sentimo coin has a glaring hole anyway). Running one's fingertips to feel the edges shoudl do the trick.

The next time you're in a dark jeepney and not sure of the coin you're about to hand out as fare, let the edges reassure you.

Banknote Error - Excessive Ink

I found this error scan in a buy & sell site. The upper photo shows the 50 peso bill with smudged ink. The lower banknote scan shows how it should normally look like.

This is the first time I've seen this kind of error. Whoever encounters such must be very lucky considering that banknotes are manually checked for errors before they leave the Bangko Sentral.

The asking price for this item is PhP5000. If you're interested, contact the seller using the link above. The author of this blog is not associated with the seller.