Catalog
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| Issuer | Banque Nationale de Belgique / Nationale Bank van België |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1832-2001) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE NATIONALE DE BELGIQUE CINQ FRANCS OU UN BELGA PAYABLES A VUE TRESORERIE LE TRESORIER LE GOUVERNEUR LA LOI PUNIT LE CONTREFACTEUR DES TRAVAUX FORCES (Translation: National Bank of Belgium Five Francs or One Belga Payable at Sight Treasury The Treasurer The Governor The Law will Punish the Counterfeiter with Forced Labor) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | NATIONALE BANK VAN BELGIE VIJF FRANK OF EEN BELGA BETAALBAAR OP ZICHT 5 FRANK THESAURIE DE SCHATBEWAARDER DE GOUVERNEUR DE NAMAKER WORDT DOOR DE WET MET DWANGARBEID GESTRAFT (Translation: National Bank of Belgium Five Francs or One Belga Payable at Sight Treasury The Treasurer The Governor The Counterfeiter will be Punished by the Law with Forced Labor) |
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| Comments |
The wartime production of Belgian notes by Thomas De La Rue in London is easily misread as a matter of practical convenience. It wasn't. By 1943, the Belgian government-in-exile was using London printing runs as a deliberate parallel currency strategy — maintaining an officially sanctioned note supply outside German-occupied territory to undercut Reichskreditkassen scrip and collaborationist monetary controls.
With over twelve million printed, the run was substantial, but repatriation and postwar redemption absorbed most of the stock. The 1944 liberation complicated distribution further, compressing the effective circulation window considerably.