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1 Pound Green Point Track P.O.W. Camp
| Issuer | Green Point Track Prisoner of War Camp Canteen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1899-1902 |
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| Reference(s) | Camb#4855 |
| Obverse description | Printed entirely in red on pale paper, the voucher is enclosed within a rectangular letterpress border with the denomination ONE POUND repeated in large upright letters along all four margins. A heraldic coat of arms — supported by two rampant unicorns and bearing the motto SPES BONA on the shield — is centred at the top. To either side of centre, two ornate cartouches each carry a stylised pound-sign monogram with the legend GOOD FOR, while a horizontal pill-shaped panel across the centre reads ONE POUND STERLING in bold serif capitals. The lower portion carries a cursive script text authorising payment to Prisoners of War at the Green Point Track canteen, signed in manuscript by G. W. Barnes as Manager, with an additional handwritten countersignature of the Commandant overlying the face. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Essentially unprinted, the reverse shows the pink-red underprint of the obverse text and border bleeding faintly through the paper, with scattered handwritten ink inscriptions — likely prisoner or administrative notations — applied across the surface, and heavy fold lines consistent with circulation within the camp. |
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| Comments |
Green Point Track, on the Cape Flats outside Cape Town, was one of the earliest British internment sites of the Anglo-Boer War, holding Boer prisoners before the network of offshore and overseas camps was established. The canteen vouchers issued there — this 1 Pound denomination among them — functioned as a closed currency, preventing prisoners from accumulating sterling that could finance escape attempts or be smuggled out. Campbell's reference 4855 places it within a well-documented but physically rare group; most camp scrip was destroyed or discarded at repatriation.
Surviving examples are almost always creased and handled. Clean ones are the anomaly, not the rule.