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1 Rupie

Issuer Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank
Year 1915-1917
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Shape Rectangular
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Obverse lettering Interims-Banknote
Die Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank
zahlt bei ihren Kassen im D.O.A. Schutzgebiet dem Einlieferer dieser Banknote ohne Legitimationsprüfung
Eine Rupie
1
Daressalam/Tabora
1. November 1915
Kraft besonderer Ermächtigung
Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank
Zweigniederlassung Daressalam
In Vollmacht
Reverse description The reverse carries a large printed X overprint applied to invalidate the original series; the original serial numbers are crossed out and two new handwritten serial numbers have been added as part of a subsequent revalidation or reissue process.
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Comments

The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank's wartime rupie issues are among the most improvised currency solutions of the First World War. With the British naval blockade cutting off any possibility of receiving printed notes from Germany, the colonial administration in German East Africa resorted to printing currency locally — on whatever materials were available, including bush paper made partly from native plant fibers.

Governor Heinrich Schnee and General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck kept the colony fighting until November 1918, two weeks after the Armistice in Europe. The currency had to survive alongside them. P#25 belongs to that desperate production run, and the material irregularities found across surviving examples are a direct consequence of wartime manufacture under siege conditions rather than deterioration in storage.

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