I’d though you paper collectors would enjoy to seeing them. I know I love looking at the pic’s on this forum board. Form what I gather from my dad, this is what he used on US bases during the Vietnam War. He called it his funny money. Info is a little fuzzy from him. He has a bit of the Alzheimer’s, so if you have any more info on the subject, I’d like to hear it.
Thanks Happy for bringing back old memories! MPC (Monopoly Play Currency) was issued at least as early as the immediate post-WW II period. In Japan and Korea we got our pay in MPC with denominations from 5¢ to $20. Regular Lincoln 1¢ coins were used with the MPC. Officially MPC was to be used in the military PX/BX/Ship's Store, USO Service Clubs, NCO and Officer's Clubs, and similar locations directly under US Government control. We were supposed to exchange them for local currency at fixed exchange rates, for use on the local economy. In fact, black marketeers, ladies of the evening, bars and souvenier shops regularly accepted them at an exchange rate better than the official one, but not as high as greenbacks (which we were not supposed to possess). In the mid-50s the official rate for yen was 360-1, MPC generally brought 400-1 on the streets, and greenbacks brought 500-1. Needless to say, many people had their families send them greenbacks. Another common ploy, especially near the end of the month when money was running low (we were paid on the last day of the month), was to buy cigarets in the PX at one MPC dollar per carton, and then sell them on the street for ¥450-500. All the Japanese cigarets (government monopoly) were very, very harsh and having American cigarets was something of a status symbol for many Japanese and Koreans. I spent a very short time in Korea and don't recall the official exchange rate for Won, but in principle the situation was pretty much the same on both sides of the Sea of Japan. A big risk that the locals took in accepting MPC was the periodic MPC Changeover. This was done on a worldwide basis, with every military post outside CONUS being simultaneously advised, without warning, that the durrent MPC was invalid, and new money would be issued. The first one I went through occurred in the early evening Tokyo time, and the second one was at about 3 a.m. in Seoul. Pay agents set up shop in every military post where they exchanged a limited amount of money per person on the spot, and issued receipts for any funds over the limit. Those were paid within a few days to a couple of weeks, unless they powers-that-be decided that you had too much cash on hand. Then it could take months to go through the process of providing a legitimate basis for possesing as much cash as you had, and if you failed you not only didn't get your excess funds, but you might get prosecuted for black marketeering. When a changeover occurred, there was no place to officialy exchange MPC for local currency, and needless to say, the locals wouldn't accept the now worthless old MPC. A lot of logistical planning went into the effort to prevent any chance of the locals getting their hoards of MPC converted, and because of the limits on conversion amounts it was very dangerous to try buying MPC from them, even at huge discounts. At the time of the changeover when I was in Tokyo, the old MPC was invalidated, but we didn't get any new money until the next morning. I had bought some yen earlier in the day, and the Beautiful Bride-to-be and I were among a limited number of people out and about that night. If you didn't have local currency or a tab at the NCO or Officer's Club, you spent the evening in your room listening to the Armed Forces Radio Network and staring at the wall, because the USO operations were all cash-based, and just shut down. I wasn't a collector in those days, so I don't have a single example of any of the three types of MPC I used during my taxpayer-sponsored Far Eastern Vacation. However, as I recall, our $20 certificate was somewhat smaller than a greenback, and the sizes went down from there to a very small, almost square, 5¢ certificate. Either Happycobra's set is incomplete, or, more likely, by Vietnam times they had eliminated the 5-center.
US military bases also tend to greatly invigorate the local economy, and not always in good ways. US military personnel, even the E-2's and E-3's, are very well paid compared to most of the world. Using MPCs allowed the US goverment some sort of control over the affect, and effects, their base was having.
Nice looking notes,Who's the attractive looking 60's babe on the 10 & 20? Has anyone checked E-bay for value's yet?
Registration is free and doesn't generate spam emails, so why don't you just sign up? A quick review of the closed auctions seems to indicate that most sales are for $25 or less, with occasional significant exceptions.
These 5 bills are really a collection of some 40 other world notes my dad brought back from over seas. I took his wad to my locale coin shop and we spent an hour looking them up. The scanned bills are a little misleading in grade. The prices I got quoted are: 10c, 25c, 50c = $0.50each Blue series 611 1$ = $2.00 Red series 641 1$ = $1.00
