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5 Franken Ghent - WW1 German Occupation Coinage
| Issuer | City of Ghent |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
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| Value | 5 Francs (5 BEF) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | The reverse presents the large numeral 5 prominently in the center of the field, with the date 1918 inscribed above it and the denomination FRANK below, all enclosed within a decorative wreath of intertwined branches forming a circular border. The outer legend, running around the full periphery and separated by bullet stops, reads UITBETAALBAAR JANUARI 1922 PAX ET LABOR, indicating the token's redemption date of January 1922 and the civic motto Peace and Labor. The overall layout is typographic and functional in character, typical of wartime municipal emergency issues. |
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| Additional information |
When the German military administration requisitioned Belgian copper and nickel early in the occupation, municipalities were left to improvise their own emergency money. Ghent's series of notgeld-style pieces were sanctioned locally but carried no guarantee from either the Belgian national authority or the occupying power — their acceptance was essentially a matter of civic trust in a city already stripped of its industrial metals.
The 1918 date places this piece in the occupation's final year, when confidence in any locally issued substitute coinage was collapsing alongside the German war effort itself.