5 Centimes - Camp de Coëtquidan

Camp de Coëtquidan, a military training ground in Brittany, was repurposed during the First World War as a prisoner of war camp falling under the 10th Military Region (headquartered at Rennes). French POW camps issued their own fractional card money to manage internal transactions — preventing prisoners from accumulating French currency that could facilitate escape attempts or be spent outside the wire.

The dual-authentication system of handstamp plus manuscript signatures was typical of camp-issued scrip, where no engraved security printing was available and each note was effectively validated by hand. Buff card stock was the material of convenience, not design.

Coëtquidan held predominantly German prisoners, and the camp continued in military use long after 1918 — it remains an active French military academy today.