Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Cents GroPAC 13; Tangku
| Issuer | Comm. Officers' Mess, GroPac 13, Tangku, China |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945-1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Blue letterpress print on buff paper. Left panel carries the issuer inscriptions within ruled borders; right panel contains a large numeral '5' within a decorative frame with scrollwork and three stars above, with 'CENTS' below. A perforated left edge indicates detachment from a booklet. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Good in Trade Only COMM. OFFICERS' MESS GROPAC 13 TANGKU, CHINA Not Good if Detached 5 CENTS |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
GroPAC 13 was a U.S. Army mess unit operating in Tangku (now Tanggu, part of Tianjin) during the immediate postwar occupation of northern China, when the rapid demobilization of American forces created chronic small-change shortages. Official U.S. military scrip wasn't always available at the unit level, and local Chinese currency was both inconvenient and subject to the violent inflation already destabilizing the Nationalist economy. Mess chits like this one filled the gap — printed locally for internal use, redeemable only within the issuing mess, and never intended to survive the unit's departure.
Almost none did.