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 Pfennigs Shamrock PoW Camp
| Issuer | Bergwerksgesellschaft Hibernia, Herne (Shamrock Prisoner of War Camp) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Papiermark (1914-1923) |
| 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 buff paper within a decorative foliate border. The issuer name 'Bergwerksgesellschaft Hibernia, Herne.' is printed in the upper portion, separated by a short rule from 'GEFANGENEN-LAGER SHAMROCK.' in bold capitals below. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 5 Pfennige |
| 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 |
The Hibernia mining company in Herne operated one of several industrial prisoner-of-war camps that put Allied captives to work in German coal extraction during the First World War. Camp scrip of this type was not issued by any state authority — it was produced directly by the company to control purchasing within the camp canteen and prevent German currency from circulating among prisoners. The Shamrock colliery, named after its Irish-owned origins in the 1850s, gave the camp its designation.
Corporate-issued PoW notgeld is among the least systematically documented of all German emergency money categories. Many pieces survived only because prisoners carried them home as souvenirs after 1918.