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5 Lire Laterina - n. 82
| Issuer | Campo Concentramento Prigionieri di Guerra No. 82 (Laterina POW Camp) |
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| Year | 1939-1943 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress text on orange paper. A circular office handstamp reading "Bollo di Ufficio" appears at centre, accompanied by a manuscript signature of the camp commandant to the right. The denomination numeral "5" is printed large at lower left, with a serial number at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse entirely unprinted, presenting plain orange paper stock with visible fibre texture and a central vertical fold line consistent with wartime production economy. |
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| Comments |
Campo 82 at Laterina, near Arezzo, held primarily British and Commonwealth prisoners captured in North Africa. The internal scrip system was imposed partly to prevent POWs from accumulating Italian currency that could fund escape attempts — a concern that became acute after the large-scale captures at Tobruk in 1942 dramatically swelled camp populations across central Italy.
Production was crude and entirely local, which is why surviving pieces vary noticeably in ink saturation and registration. The orange coloring distinguished this denomination within the camp's internal hierarchy of denominations, but the printing quality left them easy to counterfeit — a problem the camp administration was apparently aware of and largely ignored.