Catalog
1 Rupie
| Issuer | Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Rupee |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Interims-Banknote Die Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank zahlt bei ihren Kassen im Deutsch-Ostafrikanischen Schutzgebiet dem Einlieferer dieser Banknote ohne Legitimationsprüfung 1 Eine Rupie 1 Daressalam/Tabora 1. September 1915. Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank Zweigniederlassung Daressalam In Vollmacht |
| Reverse description | The reverse, on the same plain blue-gray paper, carries a serial number in large type at both top and bottom. Two blocks of guarantee text occupy the central field: one in German attesting that the note's value is fully deposited with the Kaiserliches Gouvernement von Deutsch-Ostafrika, and a corresponding Swahili translation conveying the same assurance, flanked at mid-left and mid-right by the series letter 'A'. A counterfeit warning in German is printed at lower center, with a small printer's imprint for the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung, Daressalam, at the foot. |
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| Comments |
By 1915, the naval blockade had cut German East Africa off from Europe entirely, making resupply of printed currency from the Reich impossible. The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank responded by authorizing emergency issues printed locally by the colony's own newspaper press — the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Zeitung in Dar es Salaam. A newspaper operation pressed into producing legal tender is not a common arrangement, and the technical limitations show.
Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's Schutztruppe kept the colony in the field until November 1918, long after these notes entered circulation. The series ran through increasingly improvised materials as the war dragged on.