Issuing
MPC (Military Payment Certificate)
MPC (certificado de pago militar)
A military payment certificate (MPC) is United States armed-forces paper, not a Treasury note and not United States legal tender. It circulated only among authorised personnel, on base, and converted into local currency, never the other way. Holding it outside that circle was forbidden. The system’s weapon was C-Day: a surprise conversion that left the outgoing series worthless. Fifteen series were printed between 1946 and 1973; thirteen circulated. Tudor Press and Forbes Lithograph printed them at first; the Bureau of Engraving and Printing from Series 611, always offset with coloured planchettes, not intaglio.
Catalogues use Pick M and Schwan. This Vietnam case publishes the Series 641 $10 (P#M63 · Schwan 887-1, serial J01130273J), the Series 661 $5, the Series 681 $1, and the Series 692 $20. Each serial is another piece. A printage for a prefix is not invented here beyond figures already cited in the records — for example, 20,400,000 notes cited for the Series 641 $10. They are not Federal Reserve Notes or circus scrip either.
MPC teaches one to read paper that pays without being national currency. Anyone looking for a “Vietnam dollar” in this collection will find these certificates, not a đồng. The glossary term points to that case and to C-Day, and crosses planchette and offset. None of that paper is for sale.
Series 641, 661, 681, and 692 in this case are not merged into one Vietnam dollar. Each had its C-Day. The $10 J01130273J illustrates the type; the other denominations have their own records. Schwan and Pick M are the catalogue keys; a Friedberg FRN number is not invented for them.
Examples in the collection
See also: Conversion Day , Demonetized , Schwan catalog , Planchette , Offset lithography