Catalog
1 Franc
| Issuer | Nationaal Hulp en Voedingskomiteit Dendermonde (National Aid and Food Committee of Dendermonde) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc |
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| Obverse description | Letterpress note in green and dark blue with a solid green underprint across the central field; the denomination numeral '1' occupies circular vignettes at all four corners. To the left stands an engraved vignette of a turreted tower identified as the castle of Dendermonde, while to the right a heraldic shield bearing a rampant lion displays the arms of East Flanders. The central text panel, enclosed within a decorative cartouche with flanking guilloche ornaments, carries the validity conditions and the word 'LEVENSMIDDELEN', above two manuscript signatures and the printer's imprint at the foot. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed on plain, undecorated paper and was left blank by the issuer, carrying only a post-issue handwritten notation added in violet ink. |
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| Comments |
During the German occupation of Belgium in World War One, the normal banking infrastructure collapsed entirely in many towns. Local communes, charitable committees, and emergency bodies began issuing their own fractional notes — bons de nécessité — to keep small transactions functioning when coin disappeared from circulation entirely. Dendermonde, a town that suffered catastrophic destruction in August 1914 when German forces burned much of it, was among the communities that eventually organized such a committee.
Printed locally by Du Caju-Beeckman rather than by one of the major Belgian printers, this note reflects the improvised, hyperlocal nature of occupation-era necessity currency. Production quality varied significantly across the series.