I was just recently given these, and I am just trying to clear things up in my head. Are Military Payment Certificates and Military Currency essentially the same thing? Or was military currency issued in recently occupied territories (example; given to soliders entering Germany as they moved East, where there were no forward US bases) while MPC's where issued in foreign countries not hostile to the US (maybe a country that was friendly to the US or for use in US mililary bases)
You have nailed it right on the head. Allied Military Currency was issued and denominated in the currency of the occupied country to compel the occupied country to foot the bill for the occupation. Military Payment Certificates were issued to try to alleviate the negative effects of a stonger currency (dollars) being issued in a country with a weak currency. The blackmarket exchange for US dollars led to a huge imbalance in payments from the theaters. More money was being sent back home than was going into theater as troop pay. This was an untenable situation. Although MPC did not eliminate the blackmarket it did solve the imbalance. Some will tell you that MPC was the successor to AMC. They actually served two distinct and unrelated purposes. In fact, MPC and AMC were used at the same time for those differnet purposes in Germany until the currency reform of 1948 and in Japan until 1951 (on Okinawa into the 1960s).
To expand on this subject; currently and for the last 10 years in Iraq and Afghanistan we have been using "pogs" instead of change. This is for the simple fact that shipping the coinage over here is expensive. We are currently on the 15th printing of the pogs. I think these will be popular to MPC collectors in the future. As far as cash goes, we have some ATMs but they are scarce. The military pushes a debit card called the eagle cash card. There are kiosks that you swipe your card and load money onto it electronically. All of the shops on the bases have POS systems that accept the eagle cash card negating the need for cash.
First off jhinton, thank you for your service! Its' interesting to hear about the "pogs". What do the "pogs" look like, are they wooden, plastic, what size? If you have an example, i'd be interested in seeing what they look like. I'll ask my brother-in-law as well, as he has served two tours over in the Iraq and Afghanistan.
When my wife and I left Kuwait we brought back a large ziplock bag full of pogs. I put them on eBay to see if I can get some of our money back out of them. They sold for just over two and a half times face. I believe they are already acquiring a small fan base.
I have a couple of dealers that I supply them too now and I know of a few collectors that are stockpiling sets. Most will be easy to obtain for a while except maybe the 1st or 2nd issues.
The Pots are included in the new MPC catalog written by Carlson Chambliss. You can find it on Ebay for about $25.00.
To Lettow .. I think you meant to type " the POGS are included " not the POTS ... Yes, they are listed there , however, the prices that they show listed rae seriously depressed. I am trying to put together 3 sets.. If any one can assist with trade or sale , please let me know.
