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1 Dollar Silver Certificate, Brown Seal - Hawaii
| Issuer | United States Department of the Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1935 |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in green and white intaglio with black overprints, the reverse follows the standard Series 1935 one-dollar design. The Great Seal of the United States appears in two vignettes: at left, the obverse of the seal with the unfinished pyramid and Eye of Providence, and at right, the eagle vignette with wings spread, clutching an olive branch and thirteen arrows, with a ribbon inscribed 'E PLURIBUS UNUM' in its beak. Bold black overprints reading 'HAWAII' flank the central denomination inscription, marking the note as wartime emergency currency. |
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| Signature(s) | W.A. Julian and Henry Morgenthau Jr. |
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| Comments |
The Hawaii overprint series was produced in secret following the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, though the base notes themselves date to the 1935-A series. The logic was brutal and practical: if Japan invaded and seized currency reserves, the United States could declare all standard-issue dollars in the Pacific theater void, while the distinctively marked Hawaii notes could be demonetized in isolation — limiting the financial damage of an occupation.
The brown seal and the "HAWAII" overprints on both faces were applied by the BEP to existing stock. Military personnel and civilians in Hawaii were required to exchange all standard notes for the overprinted version, making possession of unoverprinted dollars on the islands technically illegal during the war.