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25 Centimes Willebroeck

Issuer Gemeente Willebroeck (City of Willebroek, Province of Antwerp)
Year 1918
Type Emergency banknote
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Obverse lettering GEMEENTE WILLEBROECK 25 25 CENTIEMEN CENTIEMEN NIJVERHEID
(Translation: Commune de Willebroeck. 25 centimes. Industrie.)
Reverse description Printed in brown, the reverse carries a central cartouche bearing the note's value, framed by a decorative border with the municipal coat of arms to the left and the denomination numeral to the right. The text of the bon is set out in Dutch with place and date, followed by spaces for the Secretary's and Mayor's manuscript signatures; a black serial number appears at the lower centre.
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Comments

Belgian municipal emergency notes issued during the German occupation of World War One fall under the broad category of "guerre" or siege currency — local authorities, stripped of normal banking access, printed their own small-denomination scrip to keep commerce moving. Willebroek, an industrial town on the Brussels-Scheldt canal, was no exception. These communal notes were technically obligations of the issuing municipality, redeemable in theory but often left unredeemed after the armistice when many communes quietly let the liability lapse.

Small-format paper issues from Flemish communes of this period are disproportionately fragile — thin stock, heavy handling, and damp storage conditions mean intact survivors are less common than their original print runs would suggest.

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