My first Allied Military Currency

In July 2014, as I sat by my recovering wife's bedside in the hospital, I was catching up on my reading of the Numismatist . One of the articles I was reading caught my attention. I'm a budding WWII buff, which I think has happened due to my involvement with numismatics, but nonetheless an article caught my eye caught entitled "D-Day currency Preparing for the Allied Invasion of Normandy."



The article covers a more obscure part of the preparation for D-Day, Operation Tom Cat. This operation would include the creation, shipment and disbursement of Allied francs, a currency that the allied troops would be able to use if they were lucky enough to survive the initial landing and would need to purchase things as the campaign headed in land.

I won't go into all the details, but the article grabbed me, it was something I had never thought about. I read the article and then re-read it. Since then, when I see D-day footage or articles, or stories about the heroes of that time (all of them), Not only am I filled with a sense of gratitude for what they did, but I also have more of an appreciation for what was in their pockets. Those allied francs and any of the WWII era coinage.

Last week an opportunity presented itself to me and I took it. Not really a huge deal, but when it did present it self I took it without any hesitation. I picked these up for a really good price and now I have some allied military currency in my collection and I couldn't be prouder.






As a side note, all is good with my wife, no need for condolences or well wishes. She is fine...trust me, i live with the positive outcome every day

 

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I remember the 2 Francs! My Dad brought some of them home with him. I don't have any idea what eventually happened to them.

Chris

 

Hey there's a book out there devoted to Allied currency you may enjoy but I've never read it.

Nice notes by the way.

 

I got two from a club auction a while back, nice bills.

 

Way cool. I never thought of collecting anything like that.

 

This forum can be hard on the wallet.

 

Yes but it's worth it. At least you have something to show for your money.

 

Chris, yes I want one of those. and one of what @Aidan_() posted as well.

I just thought it was such an interesting aspect to the preparations. It also goes kinda with my growing Eisenhower collection as well.

 

Wow, you said quite a lot here that interests my curious side. 1st, I really like those historic notes, and your interest in WW II items/history, 2nd, when people mention an incident like what happened to your wife, I am always curious to learn details, even when your wife is thankfully fine now.

 

Some of these were printed by Forbes in America and have a tiny F in the design. Otheres were printed by the BEP and the Russians. Off hand I can't remember which ones. I think it was the German issues. . The higher values are reasonably scarce but the low values were brought home in their thousands in soldier's odds and ends.

EF to Unc examples of the low values are pretty cheap, anything over 100 lire, francs or especially marks is scarce and often expensive.

 

I mostly collect Military script from the Viet Nam era , though my Dad brought home Japanese script from the areas he fought in . All of these are interesting and would make a fine collection with most of the non US script being very reasonable and full of History .

 

Nice thread. There's a strong community of MPC / AMC collectors out there.

Here are some links:

World and Military Notes

Psywarrior.com/links

MPC

And this article about fake notes in campaigns, Counterfeits Served Numismatic Purposes


And here are some AMC issued for use in Italy:

AMC 1 Lira Series 1943 A25821893A



AMC 1 Lira Series 1943 A30282707A - Face


AMC 1 Lira Series 1943 A30282707A - Reverse



AMC 2 Lire Series 1943 A00815911A - Face

This one says something, maybe a person's name or city's name followed by "Sicily" and the date which might have been October 2nd 1943, since the slash goes all the way down to the date on the note... or just October 1943. Fyi: Operation Husky began on the night of July 9, 1943, and ended August 17.



AMC 2 Lire Series 1943 A00815911A - Reverse



AMC 2 Lire Series 1943 A05720338A - Face



AMC 2 Lire Series 1943 A05720338A - Reverse



AMC 5 Lire Series 1943 A59627283A - Face



AMC 5 Lire Series 1943 A59627283A - Reverse



AMC 10 Lire Series 1943 A15810026A - Face



AMC 10 Lire Series 1943 A15810026A - Reverse

 

Aidan_, I'm NOT an MPC collector but I believe the German MPC note you have there is a "replacement" note (similar to our U.S. Star notes). I'm going to send a copy of your bill to a friend who is an MPC collector and ask his expertise. Nice notes and believe me MPC can become addictive.
Oh, it's the 50 Mark note with the ' - ' in front of the serial number.

 

Ok...I'm going to be a stick in the mud here...but Allied Military Currency (AMC) isn't the same as Military Payment Certificates (MPC). MPC was issued to the troops serving overseas as their paycheck (very limited use in WWII) while AMC was for civilian use after invasion during/after WWII.

 

My apologies for using the incorrect terminology. Told you I wasn't a collector.

 

Thanks for the definitions Jwt.

That's interesting, I'll do some research myself and you could pm me with what you get.

 

Once again I'll preface my remarks with I'm NOT a collector of MPCs or APCs; the note I referenced, 50 Mark with the '-' before the number is NOT a replacement note. Oh well, limited knowledge can sometimes be a real burden.

 

I'm a bigger stock in the mud, even this is wrong. MPC was not issued during WWII.

During the war and until MPC was issued in September 1946 US military personnel overseas were paid in local currency. In the allied countries (UK, Belgium, etc.) the US bought foreign currency for pay purposes.

In the occupied countries, US personnel were paid in AMC. AMC was also used by the military authorities to pay for requisition property and supplies. AMC became a part of the local economy and its use by the occupying authority meant that the occupied country was compelled to pay the expenses of the occupation.

While civilians were able to use AMC, it was put into the economy only by the military authority. The pre-war and wartime paper money in Germany, Italy and Japan remained legal tender during the occupation. AMC did not replace the existing currency it supplemented it. The Reichsbank did have to obtain AMC marks because it was unable to print New notes. By its nature AMC became part of the local economy.

MPC , on the other hand, was intended to segregate US military pay from the local economy to prevent black market exchange rates from creating an imbalance in the amount of US money in and out of theater. By creating a medium that could be exchanged into the local currency but not back again any excess profit from high exchange rates remained in country and was not transferred back to the US. I recommend Walter Rundells book Black Market Money for an in-depth treatment of currency control during the post WWII occupation.

 

Thanks everyone for reading and sharing your information. Had a busy weekend, which is why I didn't really respond to anything. I was able to pick up some a few more AMC notes and await their arrival.

I appreciate the clarification as well between AMC and MPC. Not to disparage MPC, but its this particular AMC's existence that grabs my attention because of its role in WWII and its loose connection to Eisenhower.

I will certainly be checking out all the information and links to learn more.

 

Ah yes, you are correct...for some reason I was thinking it was and I appreciate the correction.