Banknotes of the British Armed Forces

The British Armed Forces issued their own banknotes between 1946 and 1972.

Since 2003, they have issued their own small change tokens nicknamed pogs by the Squaddies, after the children's game popular in the early 1990s.

1st issue
This series of notes was issued in 1946 and obviously has no series indication.

The smallest denomination was 3 pence and the highest was 1 Pound.

Later on a second edition was made to replace this one.

2nd issue
This series was issued in 1948 and has the inscription '2nd Series' to indicate that it was a new issue.

The smallest denomination was 3 pence and the highest was 5 Pounds.

3rd issue
This series was issued in 1956 for use during the Suez Crisis, the smallest denomination was 3 pence and the highest was 1 Pound.

4th issue
This series dated from 1962 and has the inscription '4th Series'. It can be found on the top centre part of the one pound banknote. Some forms are rare.

5th issue
This series dating from the 1960s are rare known only in specimen form with a few proofs.

6th issue (1972)
This series has the inscription '6th Series' written on top of the banknote value number on one of the two faces.

It was released because the United Kingdom had changed over to decimal currency. There were three denominations - five pence, ten pence and fifty pence.

The denominations were expressed in 'New Pence' to distinguish it from the pre-decimal pence. Two banknote printers were employed to print these notes. They were Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, and Thomas de la Rue and Company.

NAAFI canteen issue
These are notes of the 1st Series that were overprinted with a special overprint to indicate that they were for use only on ships of the Royal Navy. These notes are extremely sought after, especially by notaphilists, and can command some very strong prices.

'Pog' token issues
These small change tokens have been issued for the use of the British troops that are currently deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

These are almost without exception in US cents, but in 2006 a very small number was issued in HQ ISAF Kabul, in euro-cents. These were for use in the Afghanistan theatre only and are rarely seen these days as all the Post Exchanges around the KIA area accept US dollars in payment, the NAAFIs in theatre will not even accept GBP.

These tokens are not yet listed in Krause Publications' Standard Catalog of World Paper Money.