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20 Francs - Montoire Loir & Cher
| Issuer | Dépôt d'Officiers Prisonniers de Guerre de Montoire-sur-le-Loir |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress print on cream paper within a plain ruled border. A central vignette shows a Roman fasces bound with crossed straps and surmounted by a Gallic rooster's head, the bundle extending vertically from a sword hilt at the base. The denomination figures flank the vignette at upper left and upper right, with the issuing depot initials and location name split either side of the fasces in bold capitals, the year set below, and the engraver's reference mark noted in the lower right corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 20 Fr. D.O. P.G. MONT OIRE . sur le Loire 19 17 . E.G.16 (Translation: 20 francs. Depot of officers prisoner of war Montoire sur-le Loire.) |
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| Comments |
Montoire-sur-le-Loir housed a French officers' prisoner of war camp during the First World War, and like dozens of similar camps across France and Germany, it generated its own internal scrip when coin shortages made ordinary transactions impossible. These camp-issued notes were created by the prisoners themselves, authorized by the depot administration, and accepted only within the camp's economy — canteen purchases, small loans, settling debts between officers.
The 1917 date places this squarely in the worst period of the French coin famine, when local municipalities, chambers of commerce, and even POW camps were all simultaneously improvising emergency paper. Survival rate for camp scrip is low; most was redeemed, destroyed, or simply discarded at repatriation.