|
Replacements By Fred Schwan
Military payment certificates (MPC) and especially MPC replacements are
HOT! This means that there is treasure in those dealer junk boxes, flea
markets, and garage sales!
Collectors
all over the United States, Europe, Asia, and all of the United States
are looking for interesting if not rare and desirable pieces. The
attention has been building for decades, but has been heightened by
three factors. First, MPC is just downright interesting. It has been
attracting a relatively modest but enthusiastic and ardent number of
collectors for a many years. The second factor is the general boom in
collecting paper money. Finally we have the third factor making its
impact felt for the first time. Collectors are using the Internet to
expand their spheres of search and influence. You
probably recall that MPC was used by United States and a few allied
countries from 1946 through 1973 for military personnel stationed
overseas. Mostly MPC was used in Europe and Asia. Thirteen series were
issued (see accompanying chart for list of series numbers) in that time
with one being replaced by another on a frequent and unannounced basis.
Initially denominations were 5, 10, 25, 50˘, $1, 5 10. During Vietnam a
$20 denomination was added (total of three issues of this denomination.) This
system created a wonderful array of 90 pieces that constitute the
traditional complete collection of MPC. For many years the four Series
651 fractional denominations were thought to have been unissued and
therefore not collectible. Now they are included in advanced collections
boosting the number to 94, but these pieces remain mysterious. There
are a few varieties that add some spice to a collection. By far the most
important of these is replacement certificates. Just as with
“regular” United States paper money, replacements were created
during the manufacturing process to, well, replace certificates spoiled
during the regular printing run. These replacements have separate
numbering and are identifiable so that tellers, clerks, and,
unintentionally, collectors can identify them! With
modern United States paper money replacements are indicated by use of a
star in the serial number. The indication for MPC is more subtle: the
suffix is simply omitted from the serial number. Examples: A12345678A
for a regular issue and A00123456 for a replacement. Replacements
double the number of pieces for a collection from 90 (94) to 180 (188)! Unfortunately,
it is not that simple. Although it is virtually certain that
replacements were printed for
all 94 issues, not all of these replacements are reported to exist in
collections! At this time the following issues are not reported in any
collection: Series 472 and 591 25˘, Series 481, 541, and 651 $5. This
is a tantalizing list. None of these issues is common as a regular issue
so it is not surprising that their replacements are rare. On the other
hand only the Series 541 $5 regular issue is a real key to MPC
collecting so the others ought to be there waiting to be found. The
situation with the Series 651 is particularly interesting even though it
was the last series retired in 1973! This series is always the
exception! The fractional denominations may well not exist. The
relatively few regular issues that are known in collections seem to be
from one or two small groups of notes rather than from a random group of
survivors. This seems to reduce the likelihood of survival of any
replacements. Even
the higher denominations are rare with only one and six pieces reported
respectively for the $1 and $10 denominations. Furthermore the
unreported $5 denomination has the smallest total printing of any
regular issue MPC at 1.6 million pieces (1% of this is only 16,000
likely pieces issued). Finally, a few collectors were in Korea during
the protracted time of use of Series 651. They actively searched for
replacements and found only a few pieces and obviously none of the $5
notes. In one of those interesting twists of collecting, the last issued
series may have the rarest replacements! No
official records were kept on how many replacements were printed,
much less how many were issued. We do however know how many pieces were
printed for each regular issue MPC. We can use these numbers as a guide
for how many replacements were probably printed and issued. Furthermore,
we know that replacements were issued at a rate of about 1%. Far less
than 1% of certificates are actually spoiled, but because most replacing
was done by sheet or entire bundle in the name of efficiency, far more
were replaced than were actually spoiled. Obviously this
made replacement patterns far from uniform. To
answer some of these questions, we started a survey of MPC replacements
in collections about twenty five years ago. More than 2100 replacements
have been reported by hundreds of collectors from around the world. This
is where you come in. You can help us find new reports thereby enhancing
the research and perhaps enriching your collection or your bank account
at the same time! The current results of the survey are summarized in
the accompanying table. Many collectors and dealers carry a copy of this
chart with them. Many
replacements have been found in out of the way places. Edwin Meidam was
the king of garage sales. He visited thousands or perhaps tens of
thousands of these events as well as flea markets, antique malls and
similar venues. Even if no paper money was evident, he asked if there
might be some old scrap books or photo album. If such items were
available he went through them page by page. In this way Meidam
completed two 90-piece regular issue MPC sets! Just think of the odds!
He also assembled a formidable replacement collection. The highlight of
the replacement collection was a series 471 50c which was the first
reported in any collection! As you can imagine, he was thrilled with
this discovery. In one of those quirks of fate, after years of reports,
within a month of Meidam’s discovery, a second 471 50˘ replacement
was found by a collector in a Colorado coin shop. Ian
Marshall found a nice series 471 25˘ replacement in a coin shop in
Paris (where the series was used). At the time it was the third such
piece reported in collections. Of course he bought the piece and sold it
to Meidam! Very
recently a collector in Florida visited a coin shop. He selected a few
notes for his type collection. As an afterthought he looked in the
dealer’s junk box. He picked out a worn MPC series 481 50˘
certificate. The dealer volunteered to throw it in on the deal. You
guessed it, this was a replacemen! It was only the second such
replacement reported! The collector in question does not seriously
collect replacements so he sold it to a dealer who has since placed it
with a serious replacement collector. At least three people were very
happy from this deal! Dick
Mark was a part time paper money dealer. At a local show he bought a
series 591 $5 MPC from a dealer. It was a well-worn example, but this is
a scarce piece so Dick was happy to have it for inventory. It was only
when he got home that he realized that the certificate was a
replacement! Not only was it a replacement, but it was and continues to
be the only such replacement reported in collections! In a very long and
twisted tale, the whereabouts of the piece was later lost for several
years in spite of intense efforts to locate it. Ultimately it was found
and sold by auction as part of the Karl Zuhlke MPC replacement
collection where it realized $5000! At the very show where this great
replacement was sold, another collector found a minor replacement misattributed
in the inventory of a dealer who regularly deals in MPC replacements!
The collector pointed it out to the dealer who was of course a little
embarrassed. He said “O.K., you can buy it at that price, but no
discount!” These
three examples are extreme cases to be sure. In several decades of
searching, I have never found any of the great replacements in the ways
described above. I have however, found many less valuable replacements.
I can guarantee that you can do the same and that every report of a new
serial number is important to our research and even more common
replacements can be financially rewarding. The
Internet is the stay-at-home garage sale! Replacements are being found
on the Internet! Thus far the most common route has been via on-line
auctions such as www.ebay.com,
but I think that other and more innovative ways will be found and the
finders will be rewarded. The
last time that we had a story on military payment certificates for a
paper money supplement, I recommended the Professional Currency
Dealers’ Association (Pcda) pamphlet Collecting
Military Payment Certificates. I still recommend it and make the
same offer that I did that time, I will be happy to send a copy to
anyone interested who will send $3. This compact source provides much
information on MPC and MPC replacements. All regular issue MPC and many
replacements are illustrated. It even includes a collection checklist
for your use. I
am also very interested in hearing about your replacement finds so that
we can add the data to the survey. Please send complete information
(series, denomination, serial number, and position number (the other
numbers that appear on the face of each certificate) to me. The easiest
method is to send a photocopy of the pieces.
Please write me at 132 E. Second Street, Port Clinton, Ohio 43452
or FredSchwan@aol.com for a
pamphlet or to report your finds! I look forward to hearing from you. MPC replacements reported in collections Series
5˘
10˘
25˘
50˘
$1
$5
$10
$20 Tot 461
21
21
7
5
19
9
9
91 471
6
9
7
4
12
3
3
44 472
34
25
0
7
19
1
3
89 481
24
38
21
2
11
0
4
100 521
26
18
12
9
10
8
6
89 541
45
70
24
89
20
0
8
256 591
31
6
0
3
7
1
5
53 611
127
145
7
1
170
10
19
479 641
83
22
27
17
16
7
52
224 651
*
*
*
*
1
0
5
6 661
16
59
19
5
66
14
9
14
202 681
38
24
4
32
27
11
17
45
198 692
86
75
29
20
32
3
6
23
274
Grand total
2105 *Possibly
not issued, unlikely to be found. regular
issue printings in millions
5˘
10˘
25˘
50˘
$1
$5
$10
$20
Total 461
7.6
8.1
4.7
4.0
14.6
5.4
40.8
85.2 471
8.3
7.6
4.5
4.0
14.6
5.4
13.6
58.0 472
8.0
8.0
4.8
4.2
11.8
4.2
11.6
52.5 481
24.0
23.1
14.8
10.0
25.5
8.6
24.8
130.7 521
27.2
26.9
14.4
11.1
28.0
6.4
24.4
138.4 541
18.8
18.8
12.1
8.1
20.2
6.0
21.2
105.2 591
7.4
8.4
4.7
3.7
10.1
2.4
6.8
43.5 611
9.4
10.1
5.4
4.7
10.6
2.8
8.4
51.4 641
22.8
23.5
12.1
11.4
33.0
6.8
20.4
130.1 651
4.0
4.0
2.7
2.0
6.7
1.6
3.6
11.9 661
23.5
23.5
13.4
10.1
33.0
7.2
4.8
8.0
123.6 681
14.1
14.1
8.7
6.7
22.4
4.8
3.2
6.4
80.5 692
14.1
14.1
8.7
6.7
22.4
4.8
3.2
6.4
80.5 This chart gives the total number of regular issue MPC printed for each issue in millions. Approximately 1% of the total should be replacements. Multiply the number in the table by 10,000 for an estimate of the number of replacements issued. Take the Series 461 5˘ certificate for example. Approximately 76,000 replacements were issued (7.6 x 10,000).
|