1 Rupie

These notes were produced under genuine siege conditions. By 1915, the British naval blockade had severed German East Africa from any outside printing supply, forcing the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank to commission the colony's own newspaper press — the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung — to produce emergency currency. The results are accordingly crude: uneven inking, variable paper stock, and hand-stamped serial elements are all characteristic of the series.

Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's forces remained in the field until after the Armistice, and these notes circulated — however reluctantly — for the duration. The 1 Rupie denomination was the workhorse of the emergency issues, and used examples do survive, though the improvised paper has often browned or become brittle with age.