Catalog
1 Pfennig Neuburg; PoW Camp
| Issuer | K. B. Offizier-Gefangenen-Lager Neuburg a. K. (Royal Bavarian Officer Prisoner-of-War Camp Neuburg on the Danube) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Pfennig (0.01) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed camp voucher on buff-coloured card stock in black ink, enclosed within a guilloche-pattern border. The camp authority's designation runs in a single line across the upper register, with the denomination legend 'Gutschein über einen Pfennig' in bold Gothic (Fraktur) script at centre, flanked by the numeral '1' on each side. The issue date and printer's imprint appear in smaller roman type at the lower margin, with two circular punch holes at the left and right edges. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain buff-coloured card stock with the place name 'Neuburg a. K.' in flowing black cursive script at centre-left. A diagonal cancellation stamp in red ink reading 'Ungültig' (Invalid) is applied across the face of the reverse, and four circular punch holes are positioned at the corners. |
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| Comments |
Neuburg an der Donau held Allied officers — not enlisted men — under the K. B. designation marking it as a Royal Bavarian facility, one of dozens of German PoW camps that printed their own internal scrip when the wartime coin shortage made ordinary small change functionally unavailable. The 1916 Kleingeldersatz problem was acute: Reichsbank coins were being hoarded or melted, and camps needed a workable means of internal exchange for canteen purchases and minor transactions.
J. P. Himmer in Augsburg was a logical choice — a regional commercial printer close enough to fulfill small institutional orders without the delays of a distant house. At 1 Pfennig, this is the lowest denomination in the camp's scrip series, and such fractional values were typically printed in the largest quantities yet survive least often.