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5 Marks
| Issuer | Kaiserliches Gouvernement von Kamerun |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Mark (1884-1916) |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress on a light blue underprint with a repeated 'Schutzgebiet Kamerun' guilloche text pattern filling the entire field. The denomination '5' appears in each corner, with the title 'Schatzschein Nr. A.' and a handstamped serial number across the upper portion. The central legend reads 'Fünf Mark' in bold Gothic script, with the place and date of issue 'Duala, den 12ten August 1914' and the issuing authority 'Kais. Gouvernement von Kamerun' below, accompanied by two manuscript signatures at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain white paper with unadorned black letterpress text in German Gothic script, presenting an extract ('Auszug') from the Governor of Cameroon's ordinance of 12 August 1914 governing the issuance of Schatzscheine. The text comprises two numbered paragraphs (§3 and §5) detailing the legal tender status of the notes for twelve months following a peace settlement, and the statutory penalties under the Reichsstrafgesetzbuch for counterfeiting. |
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| Comments |
The Kaiserliches Gouvernement von Kamerun issued this note in 1914 as an emergency currency measure almost immediately after the outbreak of war cut the colony off from normal financial supply lines. With metropolitan Germany suddenly inaccessible and the colonial treasury unable to obtain printed banknotes through regular channels, locally produced emergency notes — Notgeld in the colonial sense — were the only practical solution. Kamerun fell to Anglo-French forces by February 1916, making the entire series extremely short-lived.
Pick 1 is among the rarest of all German colonial issues. The occupation ended before most of these notes could circulate meaningfully.