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!
50 Sen Japan Military Currency
| Issuer | Japanese Imperial Government (Military Currency) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Japanese Government Printing Bureau (大日本帝國内閣印刷局造幣製造) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 大日本帝國政府 五拾錢 大日本帝國内閣印刷局造製 |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in green, the reverse carries the denomination '50 SEN' in large Roman and Chinese characters at left and right within guilloche cartouches, with the large Chinese character legend 五拾錢 displayed prominently at the lower centre against an intricate lace-pattern underprint. A central panel contains a multi-line Chinese text block setting out the legal tender and anti-counterfeiting provisions, enclosed within a scalloped ornamental border with floral corner pieces. |
| 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 |
Japanese military currency (gunpyo) issued from 1940 onward was designed to extract local resources and labor in occupied territories without drawing on Japan's domestic money supply. This 50 Sen note belongs to the series circulated across the expanding Co-Prosperity Sphere — accepted as legal tender in occupied areas but backed by nothing, deliberately severing the cost of occupation from the home economy.
After Japan's defeat in 1945, Allied authorities declared all military yen worthless, leaving enormous quantities unredeemed. Holders — many of them civilians in occupied territories paid in this currency — received nothing.