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 Greeley; PoW Camp
| Issuer | Prisoner of War Camp Greeley, Colorado |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1946 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Yes |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in black letterpress on buff-yellow paper stock, the face carries bold sans-serif text reading 'PRISONER OF WAR CAMP / GREELEY, COLO.' across the upper portion, with a ruled rectangular panel at right bearing the large denomination numeral '5' above 'CENTS'. A red serial number is positioned in the lower centre field, with the cautionary legend 'NOT GOOD IF DETACHED' printed at lower left, reflecting the utilitarian production standards applied to World War II prisoner-of-war camp scrip. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely unprinted on the same buff-yellow stock, with no text, vignette, or ornamental device, consistent with the austere, functional nature of wartime prisoner-of-war camp voucher issues. |
| 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 |
POW camp scrip issued under the Geneva Convention framework that required the United States to pay German and Italian prisoners for labor — at a rate of eighty cents per day for enlisted men. The scrip substituted for real currency to prevent prisoners from accumulating dollars usable for bribery or escape funding. Camp Greeley, like most U.S. internment facilities, had its own series printed locally rather than through any central federal program, which accounts for the considerable variation in design and print quality across camps.
Colorado camps drew heavily on agricultural labor, particularly sugar beet harvesting. The scrip circulated in the camp canteen.