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10 Pfennigs Köln; Officer PoW Camp
| Issuer | Offizier-Gefangenenlager Köln am Rhein (Officer Prisoner-of-War Camp Cologne on the Rhine) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Pfennigs (10 Pfennige) (0.10) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress print in black on a tan and brown guilloche underprint with wavy horizontal bands flanking the central field, which carries a circular rosette vignette overlaid by a handwritten serial number and manuscript signature below the legend "DER KOMMANDANT:". The denomination "10 PFENNIG" appears in large bold numerals at left and right, with the issuer inscription "OFFIZIER-GEFANGENENLAGER / KÖLN A. RH." across the top, the date "1. Oktober 1918" at lower right, and the disclaimer "KEIN OFFENTLICHES ZAHLUNGSMITTEL" along the lower margin above the printer's imprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Black letterpress text on a light tan guilloche underprint enclosed within a fine ornamental border running the full perimeter. Three centred blocks of German text, separated by thin horizontal rules, set out the conditions of use, the redemption terms upon a prisoner's release or transfer to another camp, and a notice that notes bearing incomplete or missing serial numbers will not be honoured. |
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| Comments |
Offizier-Gefangenenlager Köln am Rhein was one of a network of officer-grade PoW camps operating under the conventions that entitled captured officers to separate accommodation, orderlies, and internal purchasing privileges — which is precisely why camp scrip of this kind existed at all. The German military administered these facilities with enough bureaucratic formality that denominated internal currency was printed commercially rather than improvised, hence the commission to M. DuMont Schauberg, the long-established Cologne press better known for newspaper and commercial work.
Issued in the final year of the war, this note would have had an extremely short operational life.