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| Issuer | Stockton Prisoner of War Camp Canteen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944-1946 |
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| Value | 1 Cent (0.01 USD) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PRISONERS of WAR CANTEEN Stockton, Calif. VOID IF DETACHED 1 CENT PW |
| Reverse description | Reverse is entirely unprinted, showing plain tan paper stock with no text, vignette, or underprint of any kind. |
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| Comments |
American PoW camp canteen currency occupies a strange corner of wartime monetary history. The Stockton facility, located at the Stockton Assembly Center site repurposed after Japanese American internment operations, held Axis prisoners — primarily German and Italian — under the Geneva Convention's canteen provisions, which required detaining powers to provide a means of exchange for personal purchases without allowing access to standard U.S. currency.
Camp-issued scrip like this prevented prisoners from accumulating money usable in an escape attempt. The Stockton series is among the more obscure California camp issues; most were destroyed at war's end during demobilization, which accounts for their relative scarcity today.