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1 Francs - Nîmes

Issuer Dépôt de Prisonniers de Guerre de Nîmes
Year 1914-1918
Type Vouchers
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Obverse lettering 15eme RÉGION
PRISONNIERS DE GUERRE
BON POUR
UN FRANC
Valable seulement
dans les dépôts - détachements
de Prisonniers de Guerre
RF
(Translation: 15th region. Prisoner of war camp money. Good for one franc. Valid strictly within prisoner of war depots and detachments. French Republic)
Reverse description Plain paper reverse, otherwise blank, bearing a large circular purple handstamp applied as the authorising validation. The stamp carries the legend around its circumference and encloses a small central vignette with a numeral in the centre field.
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Comments

French prisoner-of-war camps issued their own internal scrip during World War One precisely to prevent detainees from accumulating currency usable outside the wire. The Nîmes depot was one of dozens of such facilities scattered across the south of France, and its notes circulated exclusively within the camp economy — canteen purchases, small trades between prisoners, nothing more. Redemption after the Armistice was administratively inconsistent, and a significant proportion of these issues were simply never presented, leaving survivors in varied states.

Camp scrip from this period is among the more historically direct paper money France produced — issued under duress, spent under confinement, and largely forgotten immediately after.

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