Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Rupee Ragama; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Prisoners of War Camp, Ragama |
|---|---|
| Year | 1901 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Camb#4820 |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Re. 1. GOOD FOR ONE RUPEE Current only within the Prisoners' Enclosure and payable at the Office of the Officer in charge of Prisoners of War, Ragama. Captain, Camp Commandant. |
| Reverse description | Plain paper reverse with no printed design, showing show-through of obverse text and fold lines consistent with wartime utility production. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Ragama, north of Colombo, held Boer prisoners captured during the South African War — one of several camps the British established in Ceylon as a way of keeping prisoners far from any possible rescue or escape back to the front. This note was issued for internal camp use, part of a controlled scrip economy designed to let prisoners purchase canteen goods without handling standard currency that might facilitate escape attempts or be smuggled out.
Ceylon's PoW camp issues are among the rarest of all British colonial internment scrip. The Campbell reference alone places it — almost nothing else about surviving quantities or redemption is documented with certainty.