5 Cents Fort George; PoW Camp

Fort George G. Meade in Maryland held Axis prisoners — primarily German — during and after the war, and like most large PoW installations in the United States, it operated a canteen system through which prisoners could purchase goods using scrip rather than U.S. currency. This prevented any accumulation of legal tender that could theoretically fund an escape or be passed outside the wire.

The violet paper used for this 5-cent denomination was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure: each denomination in the series used a distinct tinted stock, making substitution or forgery immediately obvious to canteen staff.