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5 Rupien
| Issuer | Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Decimalized Rupee (1904-1916) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Interims-Banknote Wir zahlen gegen diese Note 5 Fünf Rupie Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank Zweigniederlassung Daressalam 1. Juli 1917. Vollmacht |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Variants | P#37a(1) - value numerals "5" on front 3,5 mm high 4 digits serial # P#37a(2) - value numerals "5" on front 3,5 mm high 5 digits serial # P#37b - value numerals "5" on front 5 mm high 5 digits serial # |
| Comments |
By 1917, German East Africa was completely cut off from Europe. The colonial government and the Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank had no access to security printers, proper banknote paper, or engraved plates. This note was produced locally in Dar es Salaam under wartime siege conditions — printed on whatever paper could be sourced, with rudimentary typography, and signed by hand. It is emergency currency in the most literal sense.
Lieutenant Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck's campaign kept the colony fighting until after the Armistice, making German East Africa the last theater of the First World War to surrender. These notes were still nominally in use when that happened, in November 1918.