Catalog
5 Mark Wiesa; Officer PoW Camp
| Issuer | Offizier-Gefangenen-Lager Wiesa bei Annaberg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Mark (5) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on green underprint, with a guilloche border of repeated dot-and-dash ornamental units framing the entire note. The Saxon coat of arms, surmounted by a royal crown, appears in an oval vignette at left, with the denomination numeral "5" repeated in each corner. The text block at right carries the camp title, the full redemption clause, and the denomination in bold Gothic type "FÜNF MARK", with two manuscript signatures below alongside the date and place, and the printer's imprint "JOHANNES PÄSSLER DRESDEN-N." at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Blank face on pale cream paper, with faint ghost impressions of the obverse text and underprint visible through the thin stock. A plain rectangular border rule is lightly printed, and the surface shows no additional design or inscription. |
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| Comments |
Wiesa bei Annaberg was a small officer prisoner-of-war camp in Saxony, and its scrip was printed locally by Johannes Pässler of Dresden — a commercial printer with no particular connection to official currency work, which shows in the utilitarian execution. Officer camps under the Hague Conventions were required to pay captured officers a stipend equivalent to that of their own rank in the detaining army, and camp scrip was the mechanism used to fulfill that obligation while keeping foreign currency out of circulation within the wire.
Pässler produced notes for several Saxon camp facilities during 1916. The Wiesa issue is among the scarcer ones, reflecting the camp's limited officer population.