Overprints were done as WWII was ending in the Philippines - the notes were overprinted with "Victory" to celebrate the end of the Japanese occupation. I know there are specialist references specific to Philippines banknotes, and someone else can chime in on those. I collect the notes from the Bank of the Philippine Islands, which was effectively the Philippine equivalent to a US National Bank and still operates as a commercial institution in the Philippines:
ok, i see modern philippine notes offered as overprints, what does that mean? how do you tell an overprint from a regular note?
An overprint simply means that there was an existing banknote, and then some additional component (text usually) was printed on top of it at a later date. For numismatics, usually the overprint is expected to be something released by the issuing authority, but the overprint could also be made for some other commemoration or event. Dave
They printed VICTORY on the backs of some of their currency, much like the BEP printed HAWAII on the backs of the WWII Emergency currency.
This is a 1942 Netherlands Indies 10 Gulden note: At the beginning of 1952 Lt. Col. Kahar Muzakkar, in charge of government operations against the rebellious Republic of the South Moluccas (RMS), placed himself under the orders of the Imam S. M. Kartosuwiryo as commander in South Sulawesi (Celebes). On 7 August 1953 he proclaimed Sulawesi and adjacent territories to be part of the Islamic State. This is an example of paper money for the Islamic State: The note has an overprint on the back indicating "Islamic Republic of Indonesia Chairman, Provisional General Government, Islamic Republic of Indonesia, East Indonesia region (Usman Balo). Military governor, Islamic Republic of Indonesia, East Indonesia region (Kaha Muzakkar)
This is another example of an overprint on Philippine paper money: Black "VICTORY" overprint and red "CENTRAL BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES" overprint.
Clayirving, nice examples of overprints. The first is actually a Japanese note (JIM-Japanese Invasion Money) for use in the occupied Netherlands East Indies. I believe Japan printed JIM for all countries they occupied during WWII for the purpose of gaining economic control. They organized the so-called "Co-Prosperity Sphere" through which the economic influence of Japan was to reign supreme. Your Netherlands JIM with the Islamic overprint is the first I've seen. I like it, now there is at least one more note I want to find. Isn't the Central Bank Victory a double overprint? The first being "VICTORY", and the second overprint being "CENTRAL BANK OF THE PHILIPPINES"? Two seperate overprints. To try to answer the OP, Philippine paper currency is a broad topic I don't think there is one single book that covers all Philippine currency; it seems to require a small library. The books I use are: Standard Catalog of World Paper Money-SPECIALIZED ISSUES Standard Catalog of World Paper Money-GENERAL ISSUES (for notes before 1960) WORLD WAR II REMEMBERED by C. Frederick Schwan and Joseph E. Boling and the first book I picked up, A Guide Book of Philippine Paper Money by Neil Shafer. I believe this one went out of print in 1964 but I've seen it on ebay.
