1 Cent New York PoW Camp

The New York Port of Embarkation operated a network of prisoner-of-war camps across the northeastern United States, and the scrip issued through its exchange system was designed to restrict what POWs — primarily German and Italian — could purchase and where. Camp scrip prevented hard currency from reaching enemy hands while still permitting controlled canteen transactions under Geneva Convention requirements, which obligated detaining powers to compensate prisoners for labor.

By 1946, most Axis POWs held in the U.S. were awaiting repatriation rather than active internment, making late-issue denominations like this 1 cent piece more administrative artifact than functional currency.