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5 Cents Pryor PoW Canteen
| Issuer | Prisoner of War Canteen, Pryor, Oklahoma |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944-1945 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed in black on pale yellow paper. The upper left carries a rectangular cartouche with bold serif lettering reading PRISONER OF WAR CANTEEN, below which PRYOR, OKLAHOMA is printed in black. A red serial number appears beneath the location text. To the right, a ruled panel displays the denomination figure '5' in large bold type above the word CENTS. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Completely unprinted, the reverse presents a plain pale yellow paper surface with no text, vignette, or ornamental device of any kind. |
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| Comments |
Pryor, Oklahoma was the site of Camp Crowder's satellite prisoner of war facility, holding primarily German POWs captured in North Africa and Europe. Under the Geneva Convention, the U.S. Army was required to provide canteen privileges to prisoners, and scrip like this was the mandated solution — issued in place of U.S. currency to prevent escape funds from accumulating.
Each camp produced its own denominations locally, which accounts for the enormous variation in quality, format, and printing method across American POW scrip. The Cambridge reference corpus lists hundreds of distinct issues from facilities across the country, most produced in tiny quantities.
Pryor examples survive in relatively small numbers; camp canteen scrip was rarely preserved by either prisoners or administration staff after repatriation.