Thread: Bubbles soap dollar

As you know, during WWII, U.S. forces in North Africa and Italy used $ 1, 5, 10 Series 1934A with a special yellow seal. This is because if large quantities of dollars had fallen into enemy hands, they could be declared out of legal tender, thus losing any value.

Nazi propaganda took advantage of this business for producing $ 1 bills with a writing that calls Italians to believe the dollars notes worthless.

Americans called its "bubbles soap dollar" because of the writing, that says:

"Le promesse americane sono sempre state vane, sono balle belle e buone, sono bolle di sapone...come questa banconota"

"The Americans have always made empty promises, balls are fine and good, are bubbles soap ...as this bill "

All these propaganda notes have the same serial number, D85826026A, and they were probably printed in Verona.
It's reported that they were distributed in several provinces of northern Italy.
The bills are reasonably faithful reproduction on thin paper. It's interesting to note that a well-worn piece was used as the original for the reproduction.

petronius

I'm not quite following the translation, but it's an intriguing story that I'd never heard before. What did the front of the bill look like -- did it reproduce a North Africa $1 note?

Originally Posted by gsalexan

What did the front of the bill look like -- did it reproduce a North Africa $1 note?

No, has not the yellow seal and is Series 1935.




petronius

Originally Posted by petronius

As you know, during WWII, U.S. forces in North Africa and Italy used $ 1, 5, 10 Series 1934A with a special yellow seal. This is because if large quantities of dollars had fallen into enemy hands, they could be declared out of legal tender, thus losing any value.

Nazi propaganda took advantage of this business for producing $ 1 bills with a writing that calls Italians to believe the dollars notes worthless.

Americans called its "bubbles soap dollar" because of the writing, that says:

"Le promesse americane sono sempre state vane, sono balle belle e buone, sono bolle di sapone...come questa banconota"

"The Americans have always made empty promises, balls are fine and good, are bubbles soap ...as this bill "

All these propaganda notes have the same serial number, D85826026A, and they were probably printed in Verona.
It's reported that they were distributed in several provinces of northern Italy.
The bills are reasonably faithful reproduction on thin paper. It's interesting to note that a well-worn piece was used as the original for the reproduction.

petronius

There is information about the history of these phony bills at http://www.psywarrior.com/WWIIGermanBanknotes.html.

Incidentally, when my grandmother died in 1982, I found a stack of 60 of these in her stuff. I still have them. It turns out that her step-daughter was married to a war correspondent who followed the American army during the invasion of Italy in 1943. Apparently, he picked them up there, brought them back after the war, and somehow some of them ended up in my grandmother's possession. When researching these yesterday I learned they have a certain value. However, they have been devalued somewhat because someone wrote the word "counterfeit" on the front of each phony note, probably to prevent someone from accidentally trying to spend them.