25 Centimes

Mechelen issued its own fractional emergency notes during the German occupation because the enforced withdrawal of Belgian coinage left ordinary commerce paralyzed. These hyperlocal emissions — produced and redeemed entirely within the city — were a civilian workaround, not a banking instrument. Dozens of Belgian municipalities did the same between 1914 and 1918, each printing its own scrip to keep markets functioning under occupation.

Geudens designed and Poortman and Minguet engraved this locally — an unusual degree of craft for what was essentially a necessity note. Most municipal issues of this period relied on letterpress typography alone.