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1 Franc

Issuer Stad Brugge (City of Bruges)
Year 1914
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Composition Paper
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Obverse lettering STAD BRUGGE . 1914 . 1 GOED VOOR EEN FRANK 1 BETAALBAAR TER STADSKAS DEN 15 JANUARI 1915. Een Schepen, De Burgemeester, RVM : BRVGENSIVM + RVM : BRVGENSIVM
Reverse description Printed entirely in olive-green on a pale ground, the reverse carries a dense all-over guilloche underprint of stylised floral and foliate motifs. Eight large interlaced 'SB' monograms, each surmounted by a caduceus device, are disposed symmetrically at the corners and mid-border positions. A plain rectangular cartouche at centre bears the inscription 'STAD BRUGGE + 1914 +' in white reserve lettering.
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Comments

Stad Brugge entered the emergency currency business in August 1914 when the German advance into Belgium collapsed the normal banking infrastructure almost overnight. Dozens of Belgian municipalities issued their own fractional notes that autumn, and Bruges was among the earliest. These local issues were technically unauthorized under Belgian law but tolerated — and later retroactively regularized — because the alternative was no small-denomination money at all.

Printed locally under occupation conditions, the paper quality and registration on these Bruges notes is notoriously inconsistent across the run. The city redeemed them after the war, so survivors in any honest condition are genuinely uncommon.

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