15 Centimes Commune de Cornesse

Cornesse is a small rural commune in the hills east of Liège, and its decision to issue emergency paper money in 1915 reflects just how thoroughly the German occupation had stripped Belgium of usable coinage. Hundreds of Belgian communes did the same under occupation — copper and nickel were being requisitioned, and fractional change simply vanished from daily commerce. Local authorities were left to improvise.

L. J. Crouquet & Fils of Verviers printed a number of these communal emergency issues for villages across the Vesdre valley. The official stamp was the primary hedge against forgery — no plate security to speak of.