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1 Franc

Issuer Commune de Rumillies
Year 1914
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Printer Lithographie A. Cart, Tournai
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Reverse description Plain unprinted cream paper reverse bearing a single applied circular violet official stamp of the Communal Administration of Rumillies, positioned to the upper left. The stamp incorporates a heraldic lion vignette at its centre, surrounded by the inscribed legend of the issuing authority. The remainder of the surface is unprinted, with show-through of the obverse text visible owing to the thinness of the paper.
Reverse lettering ADMINISTRATION COMMUNALE DE RUMILLIES HAINAUT
(Translation: Communal Administration of Rumillies Hainaut)
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Comments

Rumillies is a small village in Hainaut, and in the chaos of August–September 1914, as the German advance disrupted the Belgian banking system, hundreds of communes issued their own emergency paper rather than face a complete collapse of local transactions. The Commune de Rumillies note is among the more modest of these — a lithographed slip from A. Cart's press in nearby Tournai, which was itself occupied by German forces by late August 1914.

The sole security measure is an official commune stamp, applied by hand before issue. Counterfeiting these hyperlocal notes would have been pointless; they were worthless outside the village anyway.