Catalog
2 Francs / 1 Mark 60 Pfennig
| Issuer | État du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Value | 2 Francs (2 LUF) |
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| Obverse description | Dark brown on orange and green underprint, with the Grand Ducal coat of arms as a central background vignette. A red official seal appears at lower left, with the full text of the authorizing law and denomination in both French and German arranged in multiple lines across the face. The note is inscribed as a Bon de Caisse (cash voucher) issued under the law of 28 November 1914. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Etat du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg Bon de Caisse au porteur Loi du 28 novembre 1914 2 Deux Francs 2 soit Un Mark soixante Pfennig Le Ministre d'Etat, President du Gouvernement. Le Délégue du Gouvernment Ceux qui auront contrefait ou falsifié des Bons de caisse seront punis des travaux forcés de 15 à 20 ans. (Translation: State of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Cash Voucher To bearer Law of November 28, 1914 Two Francs or One Mark and 60 Pfennig. The Minister of State, President of the Government / The Government Delegate Those who have counterfeited or falsified Cash Vouchers will be punished with forced labor for 15 to 20 years.) |
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| Comments |
Luxembourg's occupation by German forces in August 1914 created an immediate practical problem: Belgian francs, which had circulated freely in the duchy alongside local currency, began disappearing as the war disrupted cross-border commerce. This note was issued by the Grand Ducal state — not by a bank — to address the resulting small-change shortage, with the dual denomination reflecting the fixed parity between the franc and the mark that had held since the Latin Monetary Union arrangements of the preceding decades.
The irony of Giesecke & Devrient in Leipzig printing emergency currency for an occupied nation is unremarkable by wartime standards, but worth noting: the occupying power's own printer supplied the paper that kept Luxembourg's markets functioning.