The printing of the Hawaii series notes was the direct result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th 1941. This disastrous event took the lives of 2,409 people and left 1,178 wounded (of which 1,177 lost lives were aboard the USS Arizona). My own father was proud to serve in this war and none will be forgotten!

In fear of additional attacks on Hawaii and other areas (Philippines, etc..) the U.S.
Government authorized the Treasury Dept. to print Emergency currency for the Hawaii Territory. What would otherwise appear as normal everyday currency had the overprint of the word HAWAII on the reverse of the notes and also in black ink on each end of the obverse. Also, each note was overprinted in brown ink (seal) as oppose to the normal blue inks.

Hawaii issued notes ($1, $5, $10 & $20's) first appeared on June 25th 1942 of approx. $25 million (not adequate at the time). The deadline to convert existing (normal) issued monies was by July 15th 1942 (later extended). The penalties for failure to do so was stiff - up to a $5,000 fine and 5 years imprisonment. Authority's also had extended power to do atypical inspections of businesses and safety deposit boxes. Individuals were limited to bank withdrawals of only $200 per calendar month (or to have in their control), businesses were limited to having only $500 at one time.

NO other currency besides the Hawaii overprints were even allowed on the islands. No currency at all was allowed to be stored in safety deposit boxes and all other currency was to be exchanged at port of entry. Of course NO HAWAII OVERPRINTS WERE ALLOWED TO BE PHYSICALLY REMOVED FROM THE ISLANDS! This of course may be one of the reasons the notes (especially over $1 issues) are very difficult to come by in Uncircualated condition. If a person could only have $200 on them at any given time and could not store or hoard notes, were not allowed to move the Hawaii issues off the island; well, its amazing that uncirculated specimens exist at all! This may be the obvious reason CGC has only certified one $20 note in Gem (and I believe no others even in Unc.). Walking around in 1941 with a $20 bill would be like walking around today with perhaps a $500 bill, it's just not done very often.

One last fascinating historical item is that the government was all too aware of the concerns and difficulties encountered in the Philippines when the treasury at Manila was threatened just post the Japanese invasion of the islands. They loaded up approx. 3,000 POUNDS OF GOLD and 16.5 million pesos in silver and transported it to the Corregidor Island's fortress tunnels (and 70 million pesos in U.S. & Philippine paper money was immediately burned). However, later, all the gold and silver were sent by submarine (U.S.S. Sea Trout) and subsequently dumped into the Caballo Bay before the fall of Corregidor in May (to avoid a similar incident like that took place in Hawaii or to ward off any temptation).

On thing is certain, these notes represent a very important time in U.S. History, a time that will never be forgotten! These notes capture the very essence of history documented through paper money and we (CGC) are proud to display the very Finest set known in existence into CGC's Registry Set Hall of Fame!