Great Britain British Armed Forces £5 2nd series UNC 

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

At the end of the war in Europe in 1945, the Allied Forces agreed (Potsdam Conference) to split Germany into four occupation zones.  A monetary system was needed to serve the needs of the occupying forces but goods intended for the troops were being sold to a thriving black market among the local population at highly inflated prices.  Millions of pounds sterling were being lost by the British taxpayers and in March 1946, a special military voucher system was organised.   While the use of local currencies was effective where they were provided in cooperation with the local authorities, it was impractical in combat zones.  So, the military authorities issued special "military currency", which was paid out to soldiers at a fixed rate of exchange and simply declared legal tender in occupied areas by local commanders.

In combating black market activities, BAF notes from the early issues were demonetised in secrecy and new series of notes came into circulation.  The first issue valued over 10 million pounds sterling were issued on 1.8.1946.  The second issue was released on 6.1.1948.  The third issue was printed in 1948 but used in 1956 during the Suez Canal Crisis.  The fourth issue was originally discussed in 1952 but were not ordered until the heating up of the cold war and the lack of a backup series prompted the British War Office in 1962 to design not only a fourth, but also a fifth series.

A new printer, Bradbury Wilkinson, was chosen for the job of producing these next two series: The fourth series was printed, but never issued, and according to all records, the fifth series was never printed. The sixth series, together with the 1 and 5 pound notes of the second series, were used in Berlin up to December 31, 1979, when they were finally withdrawn. On February 14, 1991, The Ministry of Defence auctioned off their stock of 17 million uncirculated vouchers from the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th series to a consortium of dealers.