World War II coins and notes - Collectibles and auctions.
Latest hand-picked WWII news.
Fake British £20 banknote from Operation Bernhard - Nazi scheme to ruin British economy - emerges
A very rare fake £20 banknote printed by the Nazis to ruin the British economy by flooding the country with fake cash has emerged. "Operation Bernhard" was set up before the war to print money. The Germans forced imprisoned Jewish specialists to forge £134 million worth of banknotes. This banknote - which in the 1940s had the buying power of £600 today - has emerged from a private a collector and is for sale with expected worth of £400. It is blank on one side and the other has Britannia at the top and is dated October 1937. The possession of this counterfeit money became a key factor in catching Nazi agents.
(telegraph.co.uk)
World War II's lost treasure: States Battle U.S. for billions in war bonds
70 years ago, the federal government began issuing hundreds of billions in savings bonds to finance the biggest war effort in the America's history, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt buying the very first. But the war bonds came with a catch: They wouldn't be paid off for 40 years, a remarkably long time. As the decades passed after World War II, $16.7 billion worth of bonds were forgotten in attics or thrown out in the trash. That WW2 treasure has remained unclaimed. But now a half-dozen state governments have filed a case against the federal government. They say the Treasury Department has done nothing to find the original bondholders or their descendants.
(washingtonpost.com)
The Bank of England welcomes Adolf Burger, the forger who shortchanged the Nazis
The man who forged 3 billion pounds in a Nazi plot (Operation Bernhard) to take down the British economy during WWII was invited to the Bank of England to examine one of his counterfeit banknotes. The large size of British banknotes meant that it was customary to fold them and pin them together, creating small holes. "To make our notes look worn there were specialists in the camp who were making pinholes. But we knew that Englishmen would never put a pinhole through Britannia, so there was a prisoner who always put a pinhole through Britannia. We hoped ... people would know how to detect a forged note but we failed to get the message out."
(timesonline.co.uk)
Millions in silver coins dumped in Manila Bay to keep it from the Japanese
Before being ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to depart from Corregidor by PT-Boat in March, 1942, General Douglas MacArthur talked with President Manuel Quezon about what should be done to prevent millions of dollars worth of currency, coin and bullion from falling into the hands of the advancing Japanese. Overhead Japanese bombers were bombarding the surface. The paper currency on Corregidor would have to be burned - as it had been in Hawaii. Sometime between 12 March 1942 when MacArthur left and 6 May when 16,000 troops surrendered Corregidor, the thousands of pounds of silver Pesos and minor coins were dumped to the depths of Manila Bay.
(associatedcontent.com)
Collector pays $72,500 for rare 1943 bronze penny made in error
Steve Contursi, owner of Dana Point-based Rare Coin Wholesalers, has acquired the 1943 penny that was mistakenly cast out of a bronze planchet. The coin was originally discovered in 1944 by Kenneth S Wing Jr. while collecting Lincoln pennies. Wing died and his heirs took the coin to Contursi's rare-currency company to be appraised. When he determined it was authentic, he purchased it. The coin was part of an error by the U.S. Mint in 1943 when the mint switched from copper to steel. At the time copper was needed to make bullets for World War II, and the few pennies struck in copper were possibly an employee mistake.
(ocregister.com)
World War II Relic: $20 HAWAII Federal Reserve Note
The reminders of "Greatest Generation" that saved the world from fascists and dictators by winning World War II are wanted mementos by collectors. The $20 HAWAII Federal Reserve Note shown is one such WW2 memorabilia. This emergency note was issued after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor Dec. 7, 1941, because the Territory of Hawaii was more affected than the mainland. Mail censorship, air raid shelters, curfews, blackouts, gas masks, and tent cities for war workers changed the paradise landscape. It was a military necessity to ensure the stock of currency in the local economy.
(numismaster)
Wartime Nickel Coins Should Be in Every Collection
There was no cause for optimism on Dec. 7, 1941: Much of the Pacific Fleet was damaged or sunk. In Europe England would stand alone in opposition to the German might. American war planners went to work: how far a Japanese invasion force might get into the heartland of America before it could be stopped. A war so large could create a situation where the metals needed for battle tanks, planes and a host of other things were exhausted. Conservation was needed, and one of the major peace-time uses for metals like copper and nickel was coins, and that saw authorities turn to the cent and nickel as coins that needed to be changed.
(numismaster)
Nazi counterfeiting forged 12% of all pound-sterlings in existence
Adolf Burger held up one of the British 5-pound notes he helped forge for the Germans. He was recruited by an SS officer Bernhard Kruger to the top-secret Operation Bernhard - one of the biggest attempts at financial sabotage in history. The Nazis forced 140 prisoners to forge so much British currency that by 1945, 12% of all pound-sterling bills were fake. In early 1945, SS switched their attention to dollars. Captain Kruger gave Smolianoff, Burger and two others the task of figuring out how to copy $100 bills. A filmmaker has made a new movie (to be released in March) about the operation called "The Forger," based partly on Burger's memoir.
(post-gazette)
Nazi-era coins -- 1936 silver 5-mark
The front says, "Paul VON HINDENBURG 1847-1934." The back says, "DEUTSCHES REICH 5 REICHS MARK 1936." 1936 silver 5-mark contains about four-tenths of an ounce of silver and was issued at the start of the Nazi era. Midway through 1936, a large swastika was added below the eagle. With or without the Nazi symbol, the coin is valued largely for its metal. With silver at $10.22 an ounce recently, your coin is worth about $4. The Nazis abandoned silver coinage in 1939, switching to zinc and aluminum.
(dispatch)