Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Cents Antilles Department
| Issuer | Antilles Officers' Open Mess |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941-1947 |
| Type | Vouchers |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain letterpress voucher on beige paper with black print throughout. The left panel bears the issuer's name and a warning notice in italic type at lower left, with a red serial number at centre. The right panel is framed by a double-rule border enclosing the bold numeral "5" above the word "CENTS". |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ANTILLES OFFICERS' OPEN MESS NOT GOOD IF DETACHED 5 CENTS |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Officers' Open Mess scrip notes issued in the Netherlands Antilles during the wartime and early postwar years belong to a category of military necessity money that rarely survives in any quantity. Mess scrip existed to control canteen spending, prevent local currency from leaking out of bases, and — not incidentally — keep soldiers from accumulating cash that might fund black market activity.
The Antilles issues are among the more obscure examples of Allied auxiliary scrip from the Caribbean theater, almost entirely absent from mainstream collections.