United States · MPC · Series 481
5 cents note, n.d.
5 cents · Series 481
Face with a seated allegory, globe, and books; back with eagle and shield. Serial D02536728D, position 66. Unslabbed.
Catalog facts
- Pick reference
- P#M22a · Fr. M831 · Schwan 831-1
- Serial number
- D02536728D
- Signatures
- No signatures (military issue; the use legend stands in place of a signer)
- Condition
- Unslabbed (private collection)
- Printage
- A printage for this 5-cent note has not been independently verified here. Published type dimensions are about 111 × 55 mm, not measurements of this specimen. Series circulation: 20 June 1951 to 25 May 1954
Face
Back
The note
The Series 481 5-cent note (Pick M22a, Friedberg M831) is a Department of Defense military payment certificate, not a Treasury note. No calendar year is printed: “SERIES 481” is the designation. The face shows at left a seated allegorical woman holding a globe, with books on a classical column; “MILITARY PAYMENT CERTIFICATE,” serial D02536728D, “FIVE CENTS,” and “SERIES 481” occupy the rest of the field over blue-green and reddish-brown linework. The 66 at upper left is the sheet position number. The back carries the eagle with shield, olive branch, arrows, and an E PLURIBUS UNUM ribbon, in dark blue on a pink-magenta field. The legend reads: FOR USE ONLY IN UNITED STATES MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS — BY UNITED STATES AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE RULES AND REGULATIONS. The D block opens and closes the number: it is a regular issue, not a replacement. The serial falls below D05152000D, the published first-printing endpoint (Schwan 831-1 / S831-1); that attribution compares the number with the serial classification and is not written on the note. The photographs show paper toning, scattered spotting, and edge and corner wear. They do not establish laboratory authenticity or a numerical grade.
Scarcity and printage
The type is the regular prefix-and-suffix-letter issue (Pick M22a), not the replacement variety. Silver Recyclers describes Series 481 replacements as serials that end with a digit; this D02536728D ends with D. First-printing status is attributed from the published serial range through D05152000D; this example falls in that span. This record does not invent a 5-cent printage or a market census, and it does not republish catalog prices.
Population
A PMG or PCGS census for this serial has not been independently verified. The note is shown in original, unslabbed condition.
Sources
- Numista — N#223126, 5 Cents MPC (opens in a new tab)
Confirms P-M22a, 1951, Series 481, paper about 111 × 55 mm.
- Antique Money — Series 481 (opens in a new tab)
Circulation dates 20 June 1951–25 May 1954; Forbes Lithographic and Tudor Press at series level.
- Silver Recyclers — Series 481 (opens in a new tab)
Theater list; replacements with a terminal digit versus a letter on the regular issue. Cites the Standard Catalog of United States Paper Money. Prices are not republished.
- GreatCollections — MPC, Series 481 serial classification (opens in a new tab)
S831-1, first printing, endpoint D05152000D. Auction prices are not republished.