We Americans like to think we are immune from lots of things. Among these are domestic wars.

We read about foreign conflicts in the news, but we think of these things more in the terms of news entertainment rather than reality. We haven't had a war on our own soil since the end of the Civil War in 1865. During the Civil War period there were lots of emergency money issues. These included what today are called Patriotic Civil War tokens, Merchant tokens, fractional bank notes, encased postage and more.

Collectors are either confused or intrigued by these issues, but nonetheless they are viewed as something out of our historic past. Today when emergency money in the form of locally-issued tokens, unusual paper scrip or rebel coinage are issued somewhere in the world we view it just as that-something to collect from somewhere else in the world. To most of us it is simply something relating to what we have heard on the news, but it doesn't touch us personally since the conflict is so far away.

Actually, the United States has issued emergency money in relatively recent years due to conflicts in which it has been involved. World War II and the more recent conflicts in Korea, Vietnam and even Haiti have been times where emergency money has been issued in one form or another.

During World War II the United States issued 5-cent "nickel" coins comprised of copper-silver-maganese alloy between 1942 and 1945 due to the need for nickel in various war materials. Some 1942 nickels and all others through 1945 display a large P (Philadelphia), D (Denver) or S (San Francisco) above the dome of Monticello on the reverse to identify the Mint of issue. This is also to distinguish the coins from those produced of nickel.

Perhaps the most noticeable of our World War II emergency issues was the 1943 zinc-coated steel cents, followed by the shell-case bronze cents of 1944 and 1945. The white color cents of 1943 were found to be confusing when compared to a dime and dirty in appearance once they circulated. Most were later mercifully dumped into the Atlantic Ocean where they presumably poisoned the fish.

Emergency paper money was also issued during World War II. Some bank notes were overprinted with the word AFRICA or HAWAII, each issued in the appropriate region (Allied troops occupied North Africa.), keeping in mind if the area was overrun by the enemy the notes could quickly be declared withdrawn before the money could be seized and used against us through the purchase of needed supplies by our enemies.

Allied Occupation Currency followed in Europe and Japan following the war. This was produced in the form of paper money, but not coins.

Beginning about the time of the Korean Conflict the United States began to issue Military Payment Certificates to troops both in war zones and in any area deemed to be militarily and politically unstable. As with the World War II overprints the idea was the notes could be quickly withdrawn if large quantities were captured by an enemy, if counterfeiting became a problem or simply if the local black market got too far out of hand trading in them.

The concept of the MPC continued through the so-called peaceful period between the Korean Conflict and the Vietnam War, then was again used during the Vietnam War. Some of these issues were withdrawn on short notice in favor of others when it was deemed appropriate by the military.

I have heard at least one unsubstantiated story about an officer in a U.S.-occupied Vietnam village who heard a series of the MPCs were going to be withdrawn and proceeded to make purchases with monopoly money, claiming this was the new replacement scrip. Readers should be cautious; this could yet another tale in a series of urban legends about currency and many other things in our society.

Perhaps one of the least well-known exonumia areas of numismatics is the Safe Conduct Pass, a piece of unnegotiable scrip that looks very similar to bank notes of the country in which they are distributed. The SCP leaflets are typically dropped from planes onto enemy positions, encouraging the enemy to use them as a pass to surrender without being ill-treated later. These have been issued during World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Propaganda notes are also considered an exonumia collectible. These also look similar to negotiable bank notes, but actually poke fun at the enemy and encourage them to surrender. These were used just prior to the U.S. military maneuvers against Haiti several years ago, as well as by both sides in the Gulf War against Iraq. Issues of World War II and other conflicts are more difficult to find.

There are many emergency issues of recent conflicts in which the U.S. has been involved. Collecting them can be a challenging theme that will bring these conflicts closer to home.

Richard Giedroyc is a numismatic writer, researcher, auction cataloger and coin dealer. He has been in the hobby and business most of his life, now having more than three decades experience in this fascinating hobby field. During this time Giedroyc has been the owner of Paris Bergman Galleries, owner of Classical Coin Newsletter, international editor of Coin World and owner of Giedroyc-Anderson Interesting World Coins. He is currently a numismatic consultant. He has written more than 2,000 byline numismatic stories and contributed to several coin catalogs.

Richard Giedroyc is a numismatic writer, researcher, auction cataloger and coin dealer. He has been in the hobby and business most of his life, now having more than three decades’ experience in this fascinating hobby field. During this time Giedroyc has been the owner of Paris Bergman Galleries, owner of Classical Coin Newsletter, international editor of Coin World and owner of Giedroyc-Anderson Interesting World Coins. He is currently a numismatic consultant. He has written more than 2,000 byline numismatic stories and contributed to several coin catalogs.

overprinted 'Hawaii money' from WWII