Rare Find: Hawaii Dollar at Village Antiques & Art

Pastor Ron brought his vintage items and collectibles to Village Antiques & Art in May of 2025. You may see him around on your next visit, as he is always tidying his booth and adding new things! Of his many items, he specializes in collectible coins and currency, and most recently, he was showing off a rare Hawaii overprint note. This dollar has a unique story behind it, as Ron informed us that these are very hard to come by.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, US officials were warned that Japan may invade Hawaii, giving the Japanese Armed Forces access to a considerable amount of US dollars. As a precaution and after much debate, the Military Governor of Hawaii, Delos C. Emmons, issued a recall of all US bills in Hawaii in January of 1942. The new Hawaii overprints were issued in June of 1942 with the word “HAWAII” added. Two small overprints were also added to the sides of the front of the note between the border and both the Treasury seal and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco seal. The word “HAWAII” was also added to the reverse side in a way that couldn’t be missed, nearly covering the entire back of the bill. Not only were $1 bills overprinted, like the one Ron is holding, but $5, $10, and $20 bills were overprinted as well. The overall purpose was to ensure that, if an invasion did occur in Hawaii, the US could declare all overprinted notes worthless.

The US government recalled the overprinted notes in 1946 but faced a new issue: having a $200 million stockpile of US currency on the islands. According to an APMEX article, “They decided to destroy the notes in Hawaii rather than risk shipping so many notes back to the mainland. At first, the islands’ only crematorium was used to burn the notes, and screens had been placed on the smokestack to catch any unburnt scraps of currency.  However, the furnace used in the crematorium could not handle such a large amount of paper.” Within 3 months, much of the currency was destroyed. Collectors often seek the $5 overprinted bill, as not as many were printed as the other bills. The $1 bill is more commonly found, but still a rare find!