THE NIPPONESE NUMISMATIC NUANCE

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. government was quite concerned about the possibility of a Japanese invasion and occupation of the Hawai'ian Islands. Included among the problems created with such a venture would be the mischief the Japanese could inflict by capturing all of the American currency present on the Islands and using it to buy raw materials or to conduct other transactions with neutral countries. Consequently, on January 10, 1942, the military governor of Hawai'i started recalling US paper money and directed that individuals could not possess more than $200 in bills at one time with businesses allowed to hold up to $500.

On June 25, 1942, replacement bills in the denominations of $1, $5, $10, and $20 were issued by the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco for use in Hawai'i. All of these bills carried a brown seal instead of the usual blue seal found on the $1 silver certificates and the green seal found on the $5, $10, and $20 federal reserve notes. In addition, both sides of each bill were imprinted with "HAWAII." Had there been an invasion, the government would have immediately declared any money so marked invalid and thus useless to the Japanese.

Residents of Hawai'i were ordered on July 15, 1942 to turn in all of their old currency for replacement "HAWAII" bills, and no other paper money could be used on the Islands after August 15, 1942. Rather than ship the recalled currency to the mainland, the government burned the bills in Hawai'i in a crematorium and at a sugar mill.

By October 21, 1944, the government was confident that Hawai'i was no longer at risk of invasion and stopped issuing the special currency. By April of 1946, the HAWAII bills were being recalled and replaced with ordinary money. Many residents (and servicemen stationed on the Islands) kept some of the bills as souvenirs. They are prized by collectors today and command a nice but not particularly exorbitant premium.