50 Rupien

The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank's 1917 emergency issues were produced under extraordinary conditions. By the time this note entered circulation, German East Africa had been almost entirely overrun by British and Belgian forces, and the colonial administration under Governor Schnee and General von Lettow-Vorbeck had retreated into the interior. Notes of this period were printed locally on whatever materials were available — a dramatic departure from the pre-war issues produced in Germany by established security printers.

P#47 belongs to the final series issued as the colonial currency system collapsed around a shrinking military campaign that would not formally surrender until November 1918.