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 Fort Sheridan; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Fort Sheridan Prisoner of War Canteen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Paper (yellow) |
| 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 | Red letterpress print on yellow paper. The upper portion carries the canteen identification legends in two lines, with a boxed denomination numeral '5' and 'CENTS' at right. A serial number field with prefix 'No.' and suffix letter appears at lower centre, flanked by a boxed warning notice at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | FORT SHERIDAN, ILLINOIS PRISONER OF WAR CANTEEN 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 |
Fort Sheridan, on the shore of Lake Michigan north of Chicago, housed German and Italian prisoners under the Geneva Convention's requirement that canteen facilities be made available to detainees. To prevent PoWs from accumulating U.S. currency — which could theoretically fund escape attempts — camps across the United States issued their own scrip, redeemable only within the wire. Fort Sheridan's yellow paper issues are among the more visually distinctive of the American PoW canteen series.
The yellow tint was a deliberate security choice, not a printer's aesthetic decision — colored stock made substitution of real currency harder to accomplish and easier for guards to spot.