200 Rupien

The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank's 1915 emergency issues are among the most improvised paper money produced during the First World War. When the Allied naval blockade cut off German East Africa from metropolitan supply lines, the colonial administration was forced to print currency locally using whatever materials were available — sometimes including animal-skin paper and rough locally-sourced stock. The 200 Rupien sits at the high end of a denomination range clearly intended to handle large military and administrative transactions rather than everyday trade.

Governor Heinrich Schnee's government kept issuing notes in successive series throughout the bush campaign led by Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, whose force remained undefeated until after the Armistice. Notes from the later 1915 series were effectively backed by nothing more than the promise of a colonial administration that knew it was losing ground.