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October 05 2020
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Script, Scrawl and Chops (5)
A study of various examples of unofficial additions to paper money, usually in the form of various written scripts, signatures or chops (seals)
Non-chinese and miscellaneous notes
This includes examples from areas of Japanese occupation outside of China during WWII, and anywhere outside of China until the 1980s (though all either Asian or with some connection to Asia).
Right: Burma (Myanmar) Japanese occupation 1/4 rupee of 1942, SCWPM 12. A fascinating example with a period or slightly post-war rubber stamp for a THA MAR DI CO.OPERATION (Thamardi Co-operative) in Kyauk Taw (town) in Burma. This most likely is a post-war re-issue as hand written serial numbers have been added below the block letters. |
Right: Burma (Myanmar) Japanese occupation 1/4 rupee of 1942, SCWPM 12. An unusual item with pencil annotations on both sides, though apparently not by the same person. What appears to be Burmese pencilled text including numbers, are found on the front. The back writing seems to be "Japane Buenna(?) Pots Contese,"??? |
Right: Burma (Myanmar) Japan occupation 10 rupees of 1942, SCWPM 16a. This note carries a ring of Burmese text written in pencil around the margin on the back, for purposes that clearly had nothing to do with it's intended function. Possibly a political slogan, a message, a prayer; could be literally anything judging by some of what appears on currency. No similar examples known. |
Right: Union Bank of Burma (Myanmar) 1 Kyat of 1953, SCWPM 42. The back of this note carries the intriguing annotation: 'Khin Lay Swe' 'Khin Myint We' 'Two sons', which appears to be two names followed by a wish for/announcement of two sons? There was a Burmese actress by the name of Khin Lay Swe who's life fits the time period, though of course that may be a coincidence. Was this used to mark a birth or the desire for such; perhaps as an offering to a temple or shrine? |
Right: Netherlands Indies (Indonesia) Japan occupation 5 gulden of 1942, SCWPM 124c. With signature and inscription: "Eddie Heays (unusual surname spelling) 1946, from Balikpapan, Borneo. Balikpapan is a seaport city in East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia. An oil boom commencing in the 1890s transformed the settlement from a small fishing village. Taken by Japan in 1942, the city was eventually retaken during 1–21 July 1945 by Allied forces. Australian troops remained in the city until early 1946, which may account for the annotation on this example. |
Right: Bank of Chosen (Japanese occupation of Korea) 1 Yen (fiat currency) of 1944, SCWPM 33. An unusual example with '完結' "finish" stamped twice on the front, and four times on the back in Chinese. Bank of Chosen notes did circulate within the puppet state of Manchukuo and other areas of northern China. These purple chops presumably have been added to cancel the note following the surrender of Japan in 1945. In addition, "KOREA MONEY" has been stated unsubtley across the back, with and by the signature of a Robert Cain. Presumably an Allied serviceman. Judging by the rust mark, this also spent a long time attached to... something... which also caused an indentation in the lower margin. |
Right: Bank of Japan 100 Yen of 1946, SCWPM 89. A Short snorter type, seperated from a longer roll of notes that were once taped together. This has numerous signatures of US servicemen on both sides, plus the notation: "USAT Gen(eral) Brewster, Inchon, Korea - San Francisco 31 March 1948 - 14 April 1948" (see below). Some of the names and other text can be discerned: Front: - Leslie E. Haskell, Alhambra, California. - Erwin J Roy, the "sponge" (probably the Army Sgt from Superior, Wisconsin 1925-1986). - D.S. Anderson(?), Major, S.S. -William ...... 1st Sgt. Also: "Mrs. Decker's little boy - Jackie" Back: - Jack Regan. -....... Tucker -George ....... |
Right: USAT General A. W. Brewster c1946-1950. The General Brewster was a US Navy transport ship commissioned in 1945, and transferred to the Army in 1946. It transported troops between the Phillipines, Korea, Japan and San Francisco during this period. The ship was used during the Korean War and in Indochina. In commercial use by the 1960s it was later sold for scrap, in 1988. |
Right: USA 1$ Silver Certificate of 1923, SCWPM 342. A very unusual example of a USA $1 bill chopped in Shanghai by a now unknown business, Dah Chong. 大昌? Unfortunately I've not been able to fully identify the third character (read right to left), not helped by the blurring at the top left. |
The 1925 Comacrib Directory of China identifies the character as "Tsong" but that clue has led nowhere. The character appears in the titles of two silk businesses in Shanghai. Unsurprisingly there were at least two dozen businesses named Dah Chong in the Shanghai area in the 1940s; Dah (Da) meaning 'large', 'strong' etc and Chong (Chang) meaning 'prosperous'. |