Saturday, January 3, 2009

Japanese Invasion Money of Oceania

Oceania refers to British New Guinea, the Solomon and Gilbert Islands and other small island outposts. These islands were captured in order to defend the islands within the Co-Prosperity Sphere. In 1942 the Japanese issued a ½ shilling note for use in these areas.

This money is sometimes wrongly identified as being printed in preparation for an invasion of Australia, however no such invasion was planned by the Japanese. This is because monetary unit of the Japanese invasion money was denominated in shillings and Pounds.Other than the 1/2 shilling note, denominations of 1,10 shilling and 1 pound notes were issued.The standard Japanese watermark of a quatrefoil kiri flower is present in the money.

Two dead Japanese in a shell hole somewehere in New Guinea



The first letter of the prefix(O) indicatas place of use, but i think the coconut trees gives a clue as to where these notes are to be used.The prefixes only exist in block letters and there are no fractional ones made.Unlike the banana money of Malaya or the Japanese rupees in Burma,not a lot of these notes were printed-In my opinion the Japanese did not print much as these are just islands and there are not much one can buy in these places.

1942-1/2,1,10 shilling,1 pound

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