We left off in Part One of this two-part series about the History of Military Payments talking about the origins of the Military Payment Certificates (MPCs) and how they were used. We will now conclude describing when and where they were used in addition to how they were designed and produced.
To reiterate, MPCs were used on designated overseas military bases. There were a number of conditions for which they were to exist, including one or more of the following: a risk for large amounts of United States dollars falling into enemy hands, a military operation that was expected to last more than 180 days, the prohibition of use of the American dollar by U.S. forces as authorized by the local government, and the introduction of American dollars into an area that could devalue the local currency. There were 16 different series of MPCs that ranged from use between 1946 and 1973. They have not been used by the Department of Defense since 1973 and in mid-2003, the program itself was officially cancelled.
The first series, 461, was issued and used from 1946-1947 in countries such as Austria, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Netherlands, Philippines, Ryukyu Islands, Scotland, Trieste, and Yugoslavia. The following four series of notes (471, 472, 481, 521) were also used in those countries up until 1958. MPCs would continue to be used throughout the 1960s, including in Vietnam from 1965-1973. Series 691 and 701 would get printed and never issued. The very last series, 721, would be designed but never printed. This is when the MPCs would end.
Although short-lived and produced for special use, MPCs were actually some of the most elaborately designed currency to come from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. All the notes had four color faces and two color backs with sizes varying based on the denomination. Lower denominations, like the 5c, 10c, 25c, and 50c, were smaller than the $1, $5, $10, and $20. Earlier MPCs used the same color combination in relation to the series with designs being the same as each size note in a series.
The designs would resemble those of the Allied Military Currency that was issued during World War II. In 1954 when series 521 was issued and released, they used a different color combination for each denomination within the series as all the designs for the smaller notes were the same but were different from the medium and larger sized notes. The designs also became more elaborate, using brighter colors as well as featuring allegorical figures, portraits, and scenic vignettes.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) offset-printed MPCs using engraved background tints and artwork designs that were photographically reproduced for translation into offset plates. This approach used multi-color background tints that were printed by applying one color over another to create multiple layers of blended color. That process, combined with the detailed engraved artwork, would be difficult to counterfeit.
While the BEP started off designing MPCs and handling the finishing and shipping processes, they contracted the printing out to two different firms including Forbes Lithographic Manufacturing Co. and Tudor Press. Both companies were located in Boston. In 1964, the BEP took over all processes of the production of MPCs.
Source: Bureau of Engraving and Printing