5 Francs - Nevers

Prisoner-of-war camp scrip occupies a peculiar corner of French emergency issues, and Nevers is no exception. The Dépôt de Prisonniers de Guerre de Nevers issued these 5 Franc notes internally during the First World War as a controlled substitute currency — German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners could be paid for labor under the Geneva Conventions, but circulating standard French francs within a camp was administratively untenable. Scrip kept spending contained and traceable.

French POW camp issues from this period were never demonetized through any formal public process, simply abandoned at armistice. Surviving examples tend to show heavy handling — these were working notes, not curiosities saved by collectors at the time.