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 Military Payment Certificate
| Issuer | United States Department of Defense |
|---|---|
| Year | 1958-1961 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Dollar (1785-date) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Purple and green note with a laureate female bust vignette at left within scrollwork cartouche, set against a fine guilloche underprint. Denomination numeral '5' appears in each corner; serial number and 'SERIES 541' at right. Restricting legend printed along lower border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | MILITARY PAYMENT CERTIFICATE 5 CENTS FOR USE ONLY IN UNITED STATES MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS — BY UNITED STATES AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE RULES AND REGULATIONS. |
| 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 |
Military Payment Certificates were issued to U.S. service personnel stationed overseas as a tool to control black market currency operations — converting local economies running on dollars into ones running on scrip that could be called in and replaced overnight. Series 541, to which this note belongs, was introduced in 1958 and remained in circulation until May 1961, when it was abruptly replaced by Series 591 in a single-day conversion exercise designed to strand anyone holding MPC illegally.
Those conversion days — "C-Days" — were conducted without advance notice, often over a matter of hours, leaving black marketeers and unauthorized holders with worthless paper by nightfall.