5 Centimes

Bruges issued its own small-denomination emergency paper during the German occupation of World War One, as the enforced withdrawal of Belgian coinage from circulation created an acute shortage of everyday change. Municipal authorities across occupied Belgium were left to solve the problem locally — hence the proliferation of city-issued noodgeld in 1914–1918, printed in modest runs with whatever equipment was at hand.

At five centimes, this was purely transactional currency — too small to hoard, too necessary to ignore. Local printing under occupation conditions means paper quality and impression consistency vary considerably within the series.