1 Rupie

The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank's wartime Rupie issues are among the most unusual colonial emergency notes ever produced. By 1915, the naval blockade had completely cut German East Africa off from Europe, making re-supply of printed currency from Germany impossible. The colonial administration under Governor Heinrich Schnee authorized locally produced substitutes — some series printed on whatever paper could be sourced, including in at least one documented case animal skin and salvaged materials.

P#25A belongs to the paper issues, but the supply chain for even basic printing stock was precarious throughout the 1915–1917 window. Notes from this period were circulated under genuine wartime scarcity, not as collector pieces, which makes survivors in any condition genuinely uncommon.