Collecting Unusual Paper Money

[Ray Kirchmeyer]

I just returned from a local flea market where I have been acquiring paper for my collection for years. I ran across an interesting assortment of old paper money that was printed by the Japanese Empire and and replaced currency in countries they occupied during World War II. I was wondering if anyone else has come across this type of paper and what kind of interest it has among collectors.

[Valerie MacEwan]

I once had a $10 bill with "Hawaii" stamped across it (someone took it from my house, sad to say). I wanted to keep it for mainly historical purposes. Fascinating find for you! Isn't it wonderful how we "ephemerists" can always find a new passion, a new "collection category" whenever we visit a flea market or yard sale?

[Azrael Brown]

I'm a little fuzzy on the historical facts, but pre-WWII Southeast Asia was a mishmash of occupied countries and territories of European nations. Japan, as they expanded their empire during WWII, were actually semi-smart about their conquests: they would sieze the banks of the lands they invaded, and use the country's assets to fund their war. When the funds were seized, they printed their own money in the denominations of the locals, thus ensuring Japanese-held assets would stay circulation, and make places more likely to accept it -- that's what you have, a Dutch Guilder and two Spanish bills, probably from the Phillipines, West Antilles, Vietnam maybe. The U.S., in anticipation of Japan siezing Hawaii, stamped "HAWAII" on dollar bills sent to the islands, and removed the valuable metals from the banks there, so that if Japan did the same to Hawaii (Hawaii had been using U.S. currency as their money since the 1890s), the U.S. could declare all Hawaii-stamped bills void and prevent inadvertent funding of Japan's war. WWII collectors would be interested in them, as well as foreign currency collectors -- I'm not sure how rare they are, and demand isn't huge, but my uneducated guess is they're worth a couple bucks each.

[DPopTart]

I've never seen it before... Can you tell me the measurements -- at least the length? I'll ask hubby to take a look (I keep telling him to stop by & register at TEN, but maybe something specific will help lol)

[Frank DeFreitas]

Very nice pieces Ray. I'm looking forward to reading what others might have to say about them.