FREE: 2 Vintage Military Payment Certificates

The listing, 2 Vintage Military Payment Certificates has ended.

One 25 cent MPC is in great shape. The 5 cent is MPC quite worn. Military Payment Certificates (MPC) evolved from Allied Military Currency as a response to the large amounts of US Dollars circulated by American servicemen in post-World War II Europe. The local citizens might not trust local currencies as the future of their governments was unclear. Preferring a stable currency like U.S. dollars, local civilians often accepted payment in dollars for less than the accepted conversion rates. US Dollars became more favorable to hold, inflating the local currencies and thwarting plans to stabilize the local economy. Contributing to this problem was the fact that troops were being paid in dollars, which they could convert unlimited amounts to the local currency with merchants at the floating (black market) conversion rate, which was much more favorable to the GIs than the government fixed conversion rate. From this conversion rate imbalance, a black market developed where the servicemen could profit from the more favorable exchange rate. To reduce profiteering from currency arbitrage, the US military devised the MPC program.