Catalog
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| Issuer | Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco |
|---|---|
| Year | 1934 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1785-date) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Central intaglio vignette of the United States Treasury Building in Washington D.C., rendered in green with fine guilloche scrollwork framing the four corners. The word 'HAWAII' is overprinted across the full width of the note in large hollow block letters, constituting the defining wartime emergency overprint applied to distinguish this issue from regular mainland currency. Denomination numerals appear in each corner within ornate scroll borders. |
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| Signature(s) | W.A. Julian and Henry Morgenthau Jr. |
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| Comments |
The brown seal and "HAWAII" overprint — applied to both faces — were emergency security measures introduced after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Washington's fear was straightforward: if Japan invaded and captured currency stocks, the overprints would allow the Treasury to declare all Hawaii-issue notes invalid without disrupting mainland circulation. Servicemen in the islands were also required to exchange their regular Federal Reserve notes for the overprinted series, effectively quarantining the currency geographically.
The same procedure was applied to the Series 1934A Silver Certificates circulating in Hawaii. Pick 40 covers the 1934 Julian-Morgenthau signature combination specifically.