Can someone identify this paper currency?

March 11, 2012 9:33 PM

Can someone identify this paper currency?

My boyfriend found a bunch of foreign currency, some of it pre-WWII, in a drawer he was cleaning out. We identified all of it save this one.

I'm not even sure what country it is from, but I spent a fair amount of time Googling and then comparing it visually to some Chinese/Japanese/Taiwanese paper currency lists I found. Nada.

posted by parrot_person to work & money (6 answers total)

It's Japanese. The round symbol at the top is the Imperial Seal. That's all I know!
posted by zsazsa at 9:37 PM on March 11, 2012

According to this, it's a Japanese note.
posted by moviehawk at 9:39 PM on March 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

It's a 50 yen note in Japanese wartime currency.
posted by jamaro at 9:40 PM on March 11, 2012 [1 favorite]

Asian speaking wife says it's Japanese
posted by mattoxic at 2:37 AM on March 12, 2012

The Chinese characters in the middle are a somewhat stylized version of this:
幣紙府政本日大

Reading from right to left:
幣, 紙, 府政, 本日, 大
currency,paper,government,Japan,Great

"~Paper currency of the Great Japanese government"
("great" is not a value judgement, just part of Japan's wartime name)
posted by juifenasie at 5:41 AM on March 12, 2012

The link above is incorrect, the character clearly says 50 "sen", which is 0.5 yen.

It's 50 Sen in wartime currency, see this Wikipedia article in Japanese for more information on the time period.

It also says 昭和19年 (19th Year of Showa = Showa Emperor's reign), which is 1944.
posted by xmts at 6:18 AM on March 12, 2012