Catalog
50 Centimes Erpion
| Issuer | Commune de Erpion |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Emergency banknote |
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| Obverse description | Black letterpress text on blue-green paper within a plain border, headed 'COMMUNE DE ERPION' and 'Emission communale', with the denomination stated as 'Bon de 50 cent' in bold. A large circular communal administrative stamp in red — bearing the inscription 'ADMINISTRATION COMMUNALE * HAINAUT *' around a central vignette with the motto 'L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE' — is applied over the face, alongside a red '0.50' value stamp. A serial number tablet in red is affixed at the right margin, and a manuscript signature of the Bourgmestre appears at lower centre-right, above the anti-counterfeiting notice 'La contrefaçon sera sévèrement réprimée' and the printer's imprint. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse entirely unprinted, leaving the blue-green paper stock plain and unadorned. |
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| Comments |
Erpion is a village in the province of Hainaut with a population that has never exceeded a few hundred. That a commune this small issued its own emergency currency is less surprising than it sounds — during the German occupation of Belgium in World War One, the near-total collapse of small-denomination coinage forced thousands of municipalities, even the most obscure, to print their own necessity notes. Tickets Meurice in Brussels supplied a considerable number of these communal issues, often working from simple stock formats.
The 69 × 50 mm format is characteristic of the smaller-value Meurice prints, cut tight to save paper.