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1 Cent Fort Sheridan; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Fort Sheridan Prisoner of War Camp |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Cent (0.01 USD) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Pink paper canteen voucher with blue letterpress text. The left portion carries the camp name and issuing authority in two lines, below which a warning legend and a red serial number appear. A right-side panel with a double-rule border displays the denomination numeral and unit in bold blue print. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | FORT SHERIDAN, ILLINOIS PRISONER OF WAR CANTEEN NOT GOOD IF DETACHED 1 CENT |
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| Comments |
Fort Sheridan, on the Lake Michigan shore north of Chicago, held Axis prisoners — predominantly German and Italian — from 1943 through the end of the war. The camp scrip was produced locally and issued as a closed currency to prevent prisoners from accumulating U.S. legal tender, in compliance with Geneva Convention requirements that detainees be compensated for labor at rates equivalent to U.S. Army privates.
The pink paper for this denomination was a deliberate chromatic coding system, allowing guards and camp administrators to identify denominations at a glance during transactions. Forgery of camp scrip by prisoners was an occasional problem at larger installations, though Fort Sheridan's relatively small throughput made it less acute.