Catalog
5 Rubli Magistrat Miasta Częstochowy
| Issuer | Magistrat Miasta Częstochowy |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
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| Currency | Rouble (1914-1916) |
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| Obverse description | Cream-toned note with a pink guilloche underprint and a decorative braided border. To the left, the municipal coat of arms of Częstochowa — a circular vignette showing a fortified tower with a double-headed eagle and a lower view of the Jasna Góra monastery — is framed by oak-leaf sprays. The heading MAGISTRAT MIASTA CZĘSTOCHOWY appears in bold Gothic lettering across the top, beneath which a Polish-language redemption clause runs in several lines of smaller text. The denomination is expressed in a central cartouche as '5' and 'PIĘĆ RUBLI' in red letterpress, flanked by ornamental laurel branches. Serial number, series letter, date '1915', and signature lines for the Prezydent and three Radni (councillors) complete the design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | MAGISTRAT MIASTA CZĘSTOCHOWY FAŁSZOWANIE BONÓW I ROZPOWSZECHNIANIE FAŁSZYWYCH KARANE BĘDZIE WEDŁUG PRAW PAŃSTWOWYCH MAGISTRAT MIASTA CZĘSTOCHOWY |
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| Comments |
Częstochowa's municipal government issued this note under German occupation during World War I, when the withdrawal of Russian imperial currency and the disruption of normal monetary channels left Polish urban centers dangerously short of small-denomination tender. Local magistrates across occupied Congress Poland were effectively forced to print their own emergency scrip — a patchwork system tolerated, if not exactly sanctioned, by the occupying authorities.
W. Kohn, Aderfeld was a local Częstochowa printer, not a specialist security firm, and it shows. These notes were produced with minimal anti-counterfeiting measures and circulated among a population that had little alternative but to accept them.