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5 Units Sing Sing Prison
| Issuer | Sing Sing Prison |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914-1916 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Brown underprint with an elaborate scalloped guilloche border and floral cornerpieces. A central sunburst radiates behind a black circular vignette bearing the monogram "MWL"; the motto in Gothic script flanks the medallion left and right. Denomination "Five" appears in script within diamond panels at upper-left and upper-right corners; red alphanumeric serial number printed at upper right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Five "Do good Make good" MWL SING SING PRISON SERIES No E |
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| Comments |
Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York operated an internal scrip system in the early twentieth century, issuing denominations redeemable at the prison commissary. These notes functioned as a controlled substitute for cash, a practice common in American penal institutions of the period as a means of regulating inmate purchasing power and reducing the circulation of coin inside the facility.
Surviving examples from the 1914–1916 window are genuinely rare — institutional scrip of this type was not archived with any care, and most was destroyed, spent into illegibility, or simply lost when the commissary system changed.