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5 Centimes Berchem - Antwerpen
| Issuer | Plaatselijk Komiteit van Berchem (Local Committee of Berchem, Province of Antwerp) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Local banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Black letterpress on plain paper within a thin ornamental typographic border. The text is arranged in a strictly typeset layout with no pictorial vignette; a large red overprint letter appears at centre, serving as a control mark. All inscriptions are set in capital and mixed-case letterpress type, conveying the note's validity conditions and redemption address. |
| Reverse lettering | BERCHEM - ANTWERPEN COMITE HISPANO-NEERLANDAIS POUR LA PROTECTION DU RAVITAILLEMENT NATIONAAL KOMITEIT VOOR HULP EN VOEDING PLAATSELIJK KOMITEIT VAN BERCHEM VRIJE BON GELDIG TOT 1 OCTOBER 1918 Uitkeerbaar in het wisselbureel van het Plaatselijk Komiteit Groote Steenweg, 180 |
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| Comments |
Berchem was an independent municipality south of Antwerp until its absorption into the city in 1983, and during the German occupation of World War I it was one of hundreds of Belgian communes forced to issue their own small-denomination emergency paper when coin metal vanished from circulation almost overnight. The Plaatselijk Komiteit — a local relief and administrative committee — stepped in to fill the gap, contracting the local printer J. Coore rather than the larger Antwerp houses.
Hyper-local production like this makes condition survival rates erratic. Small-town print runs were rarely precise, paper quality was whatever was available, and few recipients thought to preserve them.