10 Francs Sint-Jan-Baptist Zelzate

Parish emergency money of this kind proliferated across Belgium and northern France during the First World War, when official small-denomination coinage vanished from circulation almost immediately after the German occupation began in 1914. Local authorities, churches, and private businesses all issued scrip to fill the gap, with varying degrees of official tolerance from the occupying administration. A parish issuer is not unusual for the region, but Zelzate's position on the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal gave it a particular strategic and economic sensitivity during the occupation years.

No printer attribution has been firmly established for this piece. Parish-issued scrip of this type was typically produced by local printers working with whatever materials remained available — quality and consistency varied considerably within the same series.