US military tokens

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Dieses Thema wurde im Forum Englisch veröffentlicht

I am wondering if military tokens in Exonumia (https://en.numista.com/catalogue/exonumia71117.html, for example) is the best place for so called POG money issued for use at military base exchanges (stores). These come in the form of plastic discs and were issued as gift certificates to be given as change at US bases mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan (to avoid shipping huge amounts of coins to the bases) but spendable at base exchanges worldwide. http://numispedia.org/AAFES/nickels.php provides a view of the 5 cent denominations. I was surprised to find hundreds of these listed in the 2014 Pick Standard Catalog of World Paper Money Specialized Issues under United States Military Payment Certificates. So Pick considers them banknotes. I note that Numista lists other Military Payment Certificates as standard US banknotes.

If they are entered as tokens I assume Pick numbers should also be entered. They will be extremely hard to identify from Pick's short descriptions and lack of illustrations.

Will
I too was surprised to learn these tokens had been listed in the Pick special catalog as Military Payment Certificates. I think its great because it catalogs them in a standard reference and they are great collectibles, but from my experience the Exonumia section is the appropriate place for them. They were issued by The Army-Air Force Exchange Service (AFFES) to give change for purchases in their locations in mainly Iraq and Afghanistan. They were used in conjunction with actual US currency (and coinage) and were never the actual circulating medium. US coins were still used and used in conjunction with the coupons.
My understanding is AFFES is a private firm that contracts with the US government to provide these exchange services to Army and Air Force installations, (The US Navy has its own service that provides this service to Navy and Marine installations) thus they are more akin to script issues or at a minimum the "Good Fors" issued by NCO/OC clubs on many US military posts in the 40s-70s. MPC on the other hand was a "currency" issued by the United States Government, produced by the Government through its facilities or through governmental contracts, and issued as pay or though official sources that issued cash. It was the actual "currency" of the realm on the installations it was issued. US currency was not used or allowed to be used. (I'm sure it was used underground, but this was way before my time.) MPC could also be exchanged for US currency upon return from the theater where these coupons can only be "used worldwide in all AFFES locations."
Thema verschoben nach "Exonumia information and questions" (ZacUK, 29 Sept. 2022, 23:11)

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