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10 Centimes Régie des Chemins de Fer en Territoires Occupés
| Issuer | Régie des Chemins de Fer des Territoires Occupés (RCFTO) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REGIE DES CHEMINS DE FER DES TERRITOIRES OCCUPES BON POUR 0fr,10 RCFTO | OTFCR VALABLE EN PAIEMENT DE TOUTES SOMMES DUES AUX CHEMINS DE FER OUTLIG ZUR ZAMLUNG ALLER AN DIE EISENBAHNTEN GESCHULDETEN BETRACE RCFTO | OTFCR Impr. PAUL DUPONT. PARIS |
| Reverse description | A classical allegorical figure, tentatively identified as Neptune or a river deity, reclines to the left, holding a cornucopia in his right hand and an overturned jar in his left, the latter suggesting the source of a flowing river. He leans against a bow amid surrounding foliage, with a panoramic riverside city landscape rendered in the background. The denomination and bilingual anti-counterfeiting legal warning texts in French and German flank the composition, with the designer's and engraver's credits at the lower margin. |
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| Comments |
The RCFTO was not a bank but a Franco-Belgian railway administration established to operate the German rail network in the occupied Rhineland and Ruhr following the First World War. These small-denomination notes were issued specifically to pay wages to local railway workers and handle minor operational transactions — the occupying authorities had no intention of using German marks if they could avoid it. The French occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 coincided almost exactly with the catastrophic collapse of the German hyperinflationary mark, which made the need for a parallel scrip currency suddenly very practical.
Vergnot and de Ruaz were a creditable pairing for such minor fiscal printing; Imprimerie Paul Dupont had a long record of government and transport work.