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5 Francs - Ville de Lille
| Issuer | Ville de Lille (Municipal Authority) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
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| Protection type | Dry stamp, Control stamp |
| Protection description | Embossed dry stamp of the Service du Contrôle de la Ville de Lille applied to validate the note; red ink control stamp struck diagonally on the reverse. |
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| Comments |
When German forces occupied Lille in October 1914, the city's commercial life ground to a halt almost immediately. The municipal authority issued these emergency notes — known in French numismatic literature as monnaie de nécessité — because the requisitioning of metallic coinage by occupying forces left virtually nothing in circulation for ordinary transactions. L. Danel was a long-established Lille printing house, which meant the notes could be produced locally without external coordination, a practical necessity under occupation conditions.
The dry stamp and control stamp were the city's primary defense against counterfeiting — simple but reasonably effective for a short-term emergency instrument. Most of these notes were redeemed and destroyed after the war, making intact survivors more notable than their plain production suggests.