Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Centimes - Roubaix
| Issuer | Commune of Roubaix (Department of Nord) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Letterpress-printed emergency bon de nécessité on blue-green card stock, with black text arranged in horizontal registers across the left portion of the note: the upper register cites the war years 1914–15 and the issuing city of Roubaix, followed by the denomination in words and a clause specifying redemption for goods at participating merchants. To the right, a wavy-bordered rectangular frame encloses a large red numeral '5' denoting the face value in figures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse of this plain card stock emergency voucher carries the city's coat of arms printed in black on the left side, while a wavy-bordered rectangular frame at right repeats the red face-value numeral '5'. The printer's imprint is set in small capitals along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Roubaix was under German military occupation from October 1914, and French-issued currency quickly disappeared — hoarded, requisitioned, or simply exhausted from circulation. Municipalities across the occupied Nord department responded by printing their own emergency cardboard tokens, the so-called "monnaies de nécessité," to keep local commerce functioning at all. This Chevalier-printed piece is a product of that administrative improvisation, issued by the commune rather than any banking authority precisely because no banking authority remained operative.
The 5-centime denomination is the smallest practical unit in these Nord series. Chevalier's shop on the rue du Curoir was already producing commercial print work in the city — the occupation simply added emergency scrip to the order book.