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50 Centimes P.O.W. Cage
| Issuer | P.O.W. Cage Canteen |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1918 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Plain buff paper with all text in black letterpress. The issuer inscription 'P. O. W. Cage' appears at top, separated from the central word 'CANTEEN' by two horizontal rules. The denomination '50 centimes' is printed in the lower portion. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain buff paper with handwritten pencil inscription, appearing to read a date and text, likely a contemporary notation made by the holder. No printed design elements. |
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| Comments |
P.O.W. canteen scrip occupies a genuinely awkward corner of notaphily — not quite military currency, not quite private issue, but a controlled medium of exchange administered within a specific cage or compound. These notes allowed prisoners to make purchases without handling official Allied or enemy coinage, reducing both escape utility and administrative friction. The Camb#4886 listing places this squarely in the World War One prisoner infrastructure, almost certainly on the Western Front or in Britain.
Issuing authority, location of the specific cage, and printing details remain unresolved in the standard references — not unusual given that many such scrips were produced locally with minimal documentation and destroyed or discarded at war's end.