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50 Centimes
| Issuer | Stad Gent / Ville de Gand (City of Ghent) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Blue-grey note printed in a single colour, with an ornate guilloche-style floral border surrounding the entire design. Two diagonal ribbon scrolls bearing the city mottoes FIDES ET AMOR and HOU EN DE TROU flank the large central numeral 50, above which the French issuer title VILLE DE GAND is set in bold capitals. Below the numeral, a French-language redemption text states reimbursement at the Caisse Communale from 1 January 1917, followed by the denomination CINQUANTE CENTIMES in large letterpress type. A red hand-stamped serial number appears at lower centre, with facsimile signatures of the Secrétaire (De Bruyckey) and the Bourgmestre (E. Braun) at lower left and lower right. |
| Reverse lettering | VILLE DE GAND FIDES ET AMOR HOU EN DE TROU CINQUANTE CENTIMES |
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| Comments |
Ghent's municipal emergency notes of 1917 were issued under German occupation, when the occupying authorities had drained conventional currency from circulation and local governments across Belgium were forced to print their own small-denomination scrip simply to keep daily commerce functioning. The city issued these notes on its own authority — not the national bank's — making them a municipal liability backed by nothing more than civic credibility in wartime.
Both the designer and engraver were local, which was the point: the entire production chain stayed within Ghent by necessity.