Show Off Your Overprints

Not many overprints on US notes.
My S overprint 1934 $1.

Here is one of my Irish wartime overprints, Letter G on a £10 note. Called the War Code, ETO code, or SIM code, depending on which books you read.

Nice examples!

@CelticKnot

The overprints were used on Irish banknotes printed and issued during World War 2 to keep track of each print run during the production and delivery of the notes. When a batch was completed, the code letter would be changed.

Each batch of banknotes was printed with a specific code letter in a circle as an extra security feature. The notes were printed in Britain and transported by train and then ship to Ireland.

The Irish Issuing Authority, Currency Commission Ireland (1940-1942), and Central Bank of Ireland (1943-44) instructed the printers to use specific code letters on each print order. The choice of code letters was made more or less at random and the colours of the letters were also varied.

The code letters made it easy to cancel a batch of notes if any were lost during production and delivery.

The Irish banknotes website has a comprehensive write up on the Irish World War 2 Banknote Issues, including the background story of their development.

The Irish war code notes are a great variety in Irish notes from a collecting perspective, with 26 different codes to collect on 5 denominations of notes up to £20.



Similar special markings were also used on banknotes of the Banque de Syrie et du Liban during the war.

Very nice!

I also have a whole truck ton of different overprint varieties from Bolivia 1987. That would warrant a thread of its own, some day

The highest denomination Irish World War 2 overprint is the £20 note.