Military currency and occupation money was provided for the use of military personnel serving in occupied territory. Depending on circumstances, military currency was provided by an aggressor or a liberator and took a variety of forms for use by military and / or local populations.

In the case of Hawaii in WWII, military currency was swapped for the US dollars on the islands in preparation for a possible Japanese invasion. This pre-empted the possibility of Japan gaining control of all the US dollars in Hawaii; 'greenbacks' were internationally negotiable, ie accepted in most countries, and so potentially an economic windfall to Japan.

Many countries including Japan, Germany, Austria, the United States of America, and Britain have produced military currency during conflicts from WWII to the Vietnam War. The equivalent to military currency now used by military personnel serving overseas is the value-added charge card.

The examples in this acquisition are Allied Military Currency produced for the use of allied troops and the local German population (Pick 1994: 547) at the end of, and in the period immediately after, WWII.

Paul Donnelly
Curator, history of design and society
January 2008

Refs:
Standard Catalog of World Paper Money - Seventh Edition, volume 2, General issues, 1994
http://www.frbsf.org/currency/stability/history/index.html

The notes were made in 1944 by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company, Boston (as marked with f), USA.

Refs:
Pick, Albert - Standard Catalog of World Paper Money - Seventh Edition, volume 2, General issues, 1994, 191.a, 192.a, p. 547.

Military Currency or Occupation Money is currency provided for the use of military personnel serving in occupied territory. Depending on circumstances military currency can be provided by an aggressor or by a liberator, and many countries including Japan, Germany, the United States of America and Britain have produced military currency. These examples are Allied Military Currency produced for the use of allied troops and the local German population (Pick 1994: 547) at the end of, and in the period immediately after, WWII.

The donor of these notes was prompted to give them to the Powerhouse Museum by virtue of his relationship to Major H.P. (Pat) Boland, numismatic curator (and later consultant) at this Museum from 1961 to 2006.

Allied military currency (2), ½ Mark (50 pfennig), 1 Mark, paper, made by Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America, for use by Allied troops, Germany, 1944

Two paper notes used as allied military currency in Germany, square in shape, denominations of 1/2 and 1 Mark. Both are from the 1944 series. All notes have text incorporated as part of their design.

Square paper note printed on both sides, 1 Mark. The obverse of the note features a white letter 'M' located in the centre within a circular border, printed in blue and green. Text; 'ALLIERTE MILITARBEHORDE / IN UMLAUF GESETZT / IN DEUTSCHLAND / 076698859 / EINE MARK. '1 in all four corners, top right and bottom left 'SERIES 1944'. The letter 'M' is printed on the reverse within a red/brown design.

Square paper note printed on both sides, 1/2 Mark. The obverse of the note features a white letter 'M' located in the centre with a circular border, printed in green. Text; 'ALLIERTE MILITARBEHORDE / IN UMLAUF GESETZT / IN DEUTSCHLAND / 054105334 / EINE MARK'. '½ MARK ½' on both sides, top right and bottom left 'SERIES 1944'. The letter 'M' is printed on the reverse within a red/brown design.

Made: Forbes Lithograph Manufacturing Company; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; 1944


Used: Germany; 1944

2008/65/4

1944

66 mm

78 mm