Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Franc - Pipaix
| Issuer | Commune of Pipaix (Province of Hainaut, Belgium) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Franc |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Plain cream-coloured note printed in dark brown by letterpress, with the municipality name = PIPAIX = at the top flanked by double horizontal rules. The denomination 1 Fr. is set in bold italic numerals at centre, flanked on each side by a symmetrical floral-scroll ornament. Below the denomination appears the italic legend L'Echevin, with the issue date 3-6-1940 at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Reverse is entirely blank, printed on the same unadorned cream-coloured paper stock as the obverse, with no text, vignette, or ornamental device of any kind. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Pipaix is a village of a few hundred people near Leuze-en-Hainaut, and in 1940 — with German forces occupying Belgium and the national currency system in near-collapse — local communes across the country began issuing their own emergency scrip. These small municipal notes filled the void left by hoarded coins and disrupted banking. The Commune of Pipaix's 1 Franc piece belongs to that fragile, hyperlocal tradition of occupation-era necessity money, produced cheaply and intended for purely parochial use among neighbors who simply needed change.