25 Centimes Stad Gent

Ghent issued cardboard emergency currency in 1920 as a direct consequence of the catastrophic metal shortages that persisted well after the Armistice. Belgian municipalities had been producing their own necessity coinage since the German occupation began in 1914, when occupying authorities systematically stripped copper and other metals for the war effort. By 1920, the official Belgian mint was still struggling to restore normal production, leaving cities like Ghent to improvise. Cardboard issues from this period degrade readily with handling, making genuinely circulated survivors in presentable condition considerably harder to find than their original mintage figures would suggest.