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10 Cents Coral Reef Tavern
| Issuer | Coral Reef Tavern (Operation Crossroads) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Cents (0.10 USD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Plain tan paper stock with all text in dark brown letterpress print. The issuer name appears in large bold serif capitals at top, followed by the subtitle "Operation Crossroads" in mixed case. A small ornamental vignette flanks the denomination numeral "10c" at centre, with the value spelled out in bold capitals along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted tan paper stock, no text or design elements present. |
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| Comments |
Operation Crossroads was the July 1946 U.S. nuclear weapons test series conducted at Bikini Atoll, involving roughly 42,000 military and civilian personnel. The logistical footprint required to support that many people in the middle of the Pacific included improvised commerce — and the Coral Reef Tavern, a recreation facility established for the operation's personnel, issued its own scrip to manage on-site transactions rather than handling official U.S. currency in a saltwater environment far from any bank.
Military recreation scrip of this type was typically destroyed at the close of the operation. Survivors are genuinely scarce, and this is one of the more unusual categories of mid-century U.S. military-associated paper — atoll tavern scrip tied directly to the atomic bomb tests.