1942-1944 Philippines 5-20 Pesos MacArthur & FDR 2-Note Currency Set

Money Fit For a Guerilla

When Japan invaded the Philippines in the early 1940s, they attempted to seize control of the local economy by circulating their own currency. This brazen move, however, was met with surprising resistance. Thousands of Filipino soldiers and civilians fled to the hills and jungles of the Philippines and waged a tenacious three-year guerilla campaign that matched the Japanese tit for tat - not only did the Filipino guerillas fight with guns, rockets and ambush attacks, but they also fought back by actually issuing their own money to help support the local war effort!

Because the guerilla forces were hampered by a shortage of paper, they often used recycled paper or paper made from other reconstituted materials. The notes themselves were often simple and featured simple crude images of prominent military and political figures such as the notes in this two-piece set: a 5-Peso note featuring General Douglas MacArthur and a 20-Peso Note displaying President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In this two-piece set, we've not only brought together one of each of these notes, but we've preserved each held in a custom folder containing a certificate of authenticity and additional notes on the history of the note.

These are genuine pieces of World War II history highly coveted by historians and World War II collectors alike. And, because these notes were quickly removed from circulation once the Philippines were liberated from Japanese occupation, most were lost, discarded or destroyed making the few that have survived today scare and hard to find. Get yours now - while you can still find them!