How much are military payment certificates worth?
I have a guy trying to sell me 3 of them for $150. I dont know anything about them. They are series 461 I think. The notes are 5 cents, 10 cents and 25 cents. All in mint condition. Any help would be great thanks
,
Ripoff!
I’m going to ‘Enter’ this answer, then ‘Edit’ it to include WHY it’s a ripoff. Give me about 10-15 minutes and I’ll have a fuller reason and explanation.
*641 is the Vietnam-era series. More in a few minutes, okay? Was it 641 he’s talking about, or 461 (I think you meant 641, yes?)
But don’t buy them at that price… $15, NOT $150, would be fair.
But $150 is scamworthy.
.
EDIT:
the 641 series was used for years, starting before Vietnam but was ended in late 1968. We were paid in those MPCs instead of American dollars because the U.S. Gov’t didn’t want soldiers spending actual dollars in the Vietnamese businesses like bars, brothels and restaurants.
Because MPC was so common (we were paid once a month, reliably), the Vietnamese businesses accepted MPC. When the changeover to the next Series occurred, all military bases were closed down for the whole day. We had to turn in all of our 641 MPC in the morning; in the afternoon, we got an equivalent of MPC in the new series. 641 was "dead," because the Vietnamese had NO WAY to change the 641 MPC to the new Series issue.
They were SCREAMING the next day; none of them would accept MPC any more, because they had thousands of dollars worth of now-worthless ‘paper.’
But evidently, a lot of Vietnamese must have saved what they thought was going to be worthless paper forever. Then eBay came along and there’s a brisk business in MPC of all series, especially the 641 because so many of us "know" those bills.
The $10 Series 641 is worth anywhere from $10 on up, depending on condition, of course, but if you get on eBay and enter "military payment certificates" you will see a boatload of choices. Click on a few different items and see what they’re selling for. SOME folks might be offering stuff at top dollar, but you don’t necessarily have to pay high prices.
The $5 bill in 641 is one of the more rare bills but even then I’ve gotten good deals, including a guy on eBay whose name is "routemama" or routemama44… check him out. But check out several vendors, in order to get a feel for who gives value. Take notes, ‘cuz you’ll never remember everything.
If you’re not an eBay member, you still can sign in as a guest. You might even be able to click on "watch this item,." If you can, do that for different vendors selling the same bills, for comparison’s sake. Also, some vendors use the "Buy It Now" technique, with the for-sale price visible: check those out, too, just to see with no-haggling offering prices are.
The sub-1 dollar MPC (the 5, 10, 25cent MPC) were more common generally, therefore worth less, in my experience, than the $1, $5 and $10 bills. There are also coins/tokens available that various EM (Enlisted Men’s) and Officer’s Clubs used as substitutes and/or for change. There probably found in the MPC category as well.
Ironically, what had been totally useless 40 years ago is now worth MORE than it was then!
Good luck.
,
Ripoff!
I’m going to ‘Enter’ this answer, then ‘Edit’ it to include WHY it’s a ripoff. Give me about 10-15 minutes and I’ll have a fuller reason and explanation.
*641 is the Vietnam-era series. More in a few minutes, okay? Was it 641 he’s talking about, or 461 (I think you meant 641, yes?)
But don’t buy them at that price… $15, NOT $150, would be fair.
But $150 is scamworthy.
.
EDIT:
the 641 series was used for years, starting before Vietnam but was ended in late 1968. We were paid in those MPCs instead of American dollars because the U.S. Gov’t didn’t want soldiers spending actual dollars in the Vietnamese businesses like bars, brothels and restaurants.
Because MPC was so common (we were paid once a month, reliably), the Vietnamese businesses accepted MPC. When the changeover to the next Series occurred, all military bases were closed down for the whole day. We had to turn in all of our 641 MPC in the morning; in the afternoon, we got an equivalent of MPC in the new series. 641 was "dead," because the Vietnamese had NO WAY to change the 641 MPC to the new Series issue.
They were SCREAMING the next day; none of them would accept MPC any more, because they had thousands of dollars worth of now-worthless ‘paper.’
But evidently, a lot of Vietnamese must have saved what they thought was going to be worthless paper forever. Then eBay came along and there’s a brisk business in MPC of all series, especially the 641 because so many of us "know" those bills.
The $10 Series 641 is worth anywhere from $10 on up, depending on condition, of course, but if you get on eBay and enter "military payment certificates" you will see a boatload of choices. Click on a few different items and see what they’re selling for. SOME folks might be offering stuff at top dollar, but you don’t necessarily have to pay high prices.
The $5 bill in 641 is one of the more rare bills but even then I’ve gotten good deals, including a guy on eBay whose name is "routemama" or routemama44… check him out. But check out several vendors, in order to get a feel for who gives value. Take notes, ‘cuz you’ll never remember everything.
If you’re not an eBay member, you still can sign in as a guest. You might even be able to click on "watch this item,." If you can, do that for different vendors selling the same bills, for comparison’s sake. Also, some vendors use the "Buy It Now" technique, with the for-sale price visible: check those out, too, just to see with no-haggling offering prices are.
The sub-1 dollar MPC (the 5, 10, 25cent MPC) were more common generally, therefore worth less, in my experience, than the $1, $5 and $10 bills. There are also coins/tokens available that various EM (Enlisted Men’s) and Officer’s Clubs used as substitutes and/or for change. There probably found in the MPC category as well.
Ironically, what had been totally useless 40 years ago is now worth MORE than it was then!
Good luck.
References :
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Vietnam vet, Mekong Delta 1968-1969