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 Mark Plassenburg; PoW Camp
| Issuer | K. Offiziersgefangenenlager Plassenburg (Imperial Officers' Prisoner of War Camp, Plassenburg) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Mark |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Black letterpress on green paper with a dark green underprint. A central ornate guilloche vignette frames the numeral '5' within an oval, flanked by the bold Gothic-script legend 'FÜNF MARK' and surmounted by the inscription 'GUT FÜR'. Two small Imperial German eagles appear in the lower corners, with denomination numerals '5' at each corner, and a decorative floral border frames the entire face. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 5 MARK Der Betrag für diesen Gutschein wird bei Entlassung des Gefangenen in bar ausgezahlt, bei Überweisung in ein anderes Lager dahin überwiesen. Hat nur im Lager Gültigkeit. Ist vor Verlassen des Lagers umzuwechseln. ALEXANDER WIEDE CHEMNITZ (Translation: The amount for this voucher will be paid out in cash upon the release of the prisoner, or transferred upon transfer to another camp. Only valid in the camp. To be exchanged before leaving the camp.) |
| 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 |
Plassenburg, the Renaissance hilltop fortress above Kulmbach in Bavaria, was repurposed during the First World War as an officers' prisoner of war camp — one of Germany's more unusual detention facilities, housing captured Allied officers in a sixteenth-century stronghold. Camp-issued scrip like this was a practical necessity: it allowed prisoners to make controlled purchases within the camp canteen economy while preventing genuine Reichsmark currency from accumulating in enemy hands.
Alexander Wiede of Chemnitz was a small commercial printer, not a specialist security firm. Camp currency of this type was produced under minimal anti-counterfeiting standards — the real deterrent was the geographic isolation and the camp administration itself.