1941 Hay Internment Camp 7 Sixpence Note Ca. Robinow / Stahl good VF

Front: Kangaroo and emu coat of arms with Merino sheep on shield, infront of barbed wire fence. Barbed wire border with hidden message.

Back: 25 sheep to represent the camp's 25 huts, hidden names of the 25 hut leaders in the sheeps wool detail.

Stamped across the back: 'This note is valid only within the boundaries of Camp Seven Internment Camp'

Signatures: Robinow / Stahl

Serials: C 40689

The paper of this scarce note remains crisp and natural with bright colours. 

Just 3,000 sixpence currency notes were printed by the "Dunera Boys" that were interned in Camp Seven in World War II, only a portion of that 3,000 have the Robinow Stahl signatures, and far fewer than that again remain in this condition.

There are three possible signature combinations - Mendel/Stahl, Eppenstein/Stahl and Robinow/Stahl. Stahl's name always appears under 'Manager' as he was an interned German banker.

As the notes are dated March 1st 1941, it is believed they were used within the confines of Camp 7 from that date. Correspondence from the Commonwealth Treasury reached the Hay Internment Camp in the middle of May 1941, effectively instructing the Camp's officers to"...withdraw and destroy all such notes...".

Click here to read a background article to the fascinating, historically important and incredibly rare banknotes of the Hay Internment Camp.

If you're not already familiar with the background to and technical characteristics of the copper and brass tokens used by inmates across all of the internment camps of Australasia during World War II, click the link below to read an article that explains them in detail.

SKU: 212932