The Military Payment Certificate (MPC) was introduced in 1946 to provide specially printed paper currency for military personnel, but it was used in the underground economy. The program was ended in 1973, and today, MPCs are collectibles with values depending on the information printed, misprints, and condition.
The Military Payment Certificate (MPC) was first produced in 1946 in response to financial difficulties caused by the introduction of large amounts of US currency into foreign economies. Basically, this program consisted of specially printed paper currency that, in theory, could only be used by military personnel. The United States, however, underestimated the combined ingenuity of numerous enlisted soldiers and local business owners, and the use of MPCs in the underground economy has never been successfully eliminated. However, over the next 27 years, the program would be used with varying degrees of success in most foreign military operations.
In 1973, the United States ended the military payment certificate program. Ironically, the excessive inflation of the nominal value of the currency that once plagued the military continued, albeit in a much more acceptable venue. Today, there is a thriving collectibles market for these pieces of history. For example, an MPC printed with a face value of 25 cents in 1948 can sell for up to $550 US dollars (USD).
Like most collectible currencies, the value of any military payment certificate depends largely on the information printed. The primary identification of any MPC is a three digit number which can be found on the front of the currency and is preceded by the series of words. The first two digits of the serial numbers match the last two digits of the year it was printed. The final digit represents the number of series printed within a given year. Therefore, an MPC with a serial number of 472 would belong to the second set of certificates printed in 1947.
Generally, the value of a military payment certificate that contains a misprint is increased exponentially. Due to printing processes, these errors usually occurred in certificates that held a common position on pre-cut sheets of currency. Since the uncut sheets held 100 notes, each position on the sheet was assigned a number between 1 and 99, and every certificate in that position in an 8,000-sheet printing was labeled with that code. These position numbers generally appeared independently as a one- or two-digit grouping on the face of an MPC.
The condition of a military payment certificate also has a huge impact on its resale value. Mint or near mint quality is generally defined as having the same appearance as it did in day of printing. Given the living conditions of the average deployed soldier and the age of MPCs, bills in this condition are both rare and valuable. More common are certificates in good or fair condition.
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