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10 Cents Camp Atterbury PoW Canteen
| Issuer | United States Army - Camp Atterbury Prisoner of War Canteen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1946 |
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| Value | 10 Cents (0.10 USD) |
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| Obverse description | Purple paper with dark blue letterpress printing throughout. The left third carries a vertical 'SERIES V' inscription along the outer border. The central panel bears the unit designation '1560th S.C.U.' in bold lettering alongside the inscription 'PRISONER OF WAR CANTEEN', with the cautionary legend 'NOT GOOD IF DETACHED' and a black serial number in the lower portion. The denomination '10 CENTS' is set in a bold rectangular cartouche at the right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PRISONER OF WAR CANTEEN 1560th S.C.U. NOT GOOD IF DETACHED 10 CENTS SERIES V |
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| Comments |
Camp Atterbury, located near Edinburgh, Indiana, held thousands of German and Italian prisoners during the war years. Like most large PoW installations, it operated an internal scrip system to allow canteen purchases without giving prisoners access to U.S. currency — a requirement under Geneva Convention guidelines governing prisoner commerce, but also a practical measure against escape-funded spending in surrounding communities.
The purple color coding distinguished the 10-cent denomination within the Atterbury series. Camp-issued scrip of this type was produced in small quantities, used hard, and rarely preserved — guards had little reason to keep it, and prisoners who saved it often lost it during repatriation processing.