Catalog
1 Rupie
| Issuer | Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Decimalized Rupee (1904-1916) |
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| Obverse description | Plain unadorned face typical of wartime emergency issue, bearing entirely typeset letterpress text arranged in horizontal lines across the note field within a simple ruled border. The denomination '1 Eine Rupie 1' is set in the centre, flanked by the issuing authority 'Deutsch Ostafrikanische Bank, Zweigniederlassung Daressalam' and the obligation clause 'Wir zahlen gegen diese Note'. Two manuscript signatures appear in the lower centre and right, dated 1. Juli 1917, with the authorization legend 'In Vollmacht'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain cream-coloured reverse of this emergency wartime Interims-Banknote, bearing a rubber-stamped imperial German eagle device at centre as the sole design element, with serial numbers stamped twice in black letterpress type and a prefix letter in the upper left area. The note reverse is otherwise unprinted, consistent with the austere production methods of the besieged Schutztruppe administration. |
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| Comments |
By 1917, the German East Africa campaign under Lettow-Vorbeck had severed the colony from virtually all external supply lines. The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank could no longer import properly printed banknotes, and the entire late-war series — including this 1 Rupie — was produced under field conditions using whatever materials were locally available. The paper itself was often sourced from within the colony, and the printing quality reflects those constraints.
These emergency issues circulated in a territory that was simultaneously a battlefield, making survivor notes genuinely scarce. The colonial rupie was pegged to the German mark but functioned in near-total isolation from that system by the time this note was issued.