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1 Rupie
| Issuer | Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain cream-coloured reverse of this emergency wartime Interims-Banknote, bearing a rubber-stamped imperial German eagle device at centre as the sole design element, with serial numbers stamped twice in black letterpress type and a prefix letter in the upper left area. The note reverse is otherwise unprinted, consistent with the austere production methods of the besieged Schutztruppe administration. |
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| Variants | P#22a - eagle on back 15 mm high series EP P#22ax - error: back inverted P#22b - eagle on back 23 mm high series EP P#22bx - error: back inverted P#22by - error: "Daressalan" on front P#22c - series ER P#22cx - error: back inverted P#22cy - error: series "EP" on front, "ER" on back P#22d - eagle on back 15 mm high series FP P#22dx - error: back inverted P#22e - eagle on back 19 mm high series FP P#22ex - error: back inverted series "EP" on front, "ER" on back P#22f - series IP |
| Comments |
By 1917, the German East Africa campaign under Lettow-Vorbeck had severed the colony from virtually all external supply lines. The Deutsch-Ostafrikanische Bank could no longer import properly printed banknotes, and the entire late-war series — including this 1 Rupie — was produced under field conditions using whatever materials were locally available. The paper itself was often sourced from within the colony, and the printing quality reflects those constraints.
These emergency issues circulated in a territory that was simultaneously a battlefield, making survivor notes genuinely scarce. The colonial rupie was pegged to the German mark but functioned in near-total isolation from that system by the time this note was issued.