Issued in the final weeks of German colonial authority in South West Africa, this note was produced locally in Windhoek under genuine emergency conditions — not by a metropolitan printing house. The Kaiserliche Gouvernement resorted to improvised paper currency after the outbreak of war cut off access to normal financial channels. Seitz signed as Imperial Governor; he surrendered the territory to South African forces in July 1915, making the entire series one of the shortest-lived colonial emissions in German imperial history.
The overprint security feature reflects the ad hoc nature of production. Paper, press, and authorization were all local.
Issued in the final weeks of German colonial authority in South West Africa, this note was produced locally in Windhoek under genuine emergency conditions — not by a metropolitan printing house. The Kaiserliche Gouvernement resorted to improvised paper currency after the outbreak of war cut off access to normal financial channels. Seitz signed as Imperial Governor; he surrendered the territory to South African forces in July 1915, making the entire series one of the shortest-lived colonial emissions in German imperial history.
The overprint security feature reflects the ad hoc nature of production. Paper, press, and authorization were all local.