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!
1 Heller Hart bei Amstetten POW Camp
| Issuer | Offiziersabteilung des Kriegsgefangenenlagers Hart bei Amstetten |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 117 x 69 mm |
| 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 | Uniface letterpress voucher printed in green on cream paper. The face is dominated by large Gothic script text across the centre, with denomination numeral "1" in boxed panels at upper left and right, above "Heller". A radiating line underprint fills the background within a ruled border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Unprinted reverse of cream paper showing faint ink offset from the obverse impression, with a lightly ruled border frame visible. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| 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 |
Hart bei Amstetten was one of Austria-Hungary's larger prisoner-of-war camps during the First World War, holding primarily Russian and Italian officers. The "Offiziersabteilung" designation is significant — officer prisoners were kept separately from enlisted men under the Hague Convention rules, and their camps often developed internal economies elaborate enough to require dedicated scrip. This 1 Heller note is part of that internal currency system, issued by the camp administration specifically to manage canteen transactions among officer-rank detainees.
The Heller denomination — the smallest monetary unit in the Austro-Hungarian system — suggests this scrip extended down to genuinely trivial purchases, which points to a functioning and relatively sophisticated internal market.