Emergency Money - B 1914 - 1920 - 01 Belgium - Bruges 3

When Belgium - and Europe - was at the dawn of war in 1914, a rush on metal cash and paper money was inevitable. National institutions already knew what was going to happen, and only limited amounts of money could be redrawn from the bank.
Meanwhile a large amount of the remaining stock of banknotes, as well as the printing plates were removed from the National Bank in Brussels, first to Antwerp, and later out of the country to the Bank of London.
Some of the notes, printed in Antwerp, are quite rare - but that's another topic.

Due to this lack of papermoney, and the need to pay out millions of people in Belgium, several cities started locally to emit notes.
In my previous posts I wrote about the smaller denominations issued in Bruges, now we'll have a closer look at the 'franc values'.

Front side of 1 frank Bruges 1914

Back side of 1 frank Bruges 1914

Two 1 Frank-notes were issued in 1914. Both notes have a different 'experiation day', the day they could be exchanged for 'real' money.
On the first note it is January 15, 1915 - on the second issue, the dte is July 15, 1915.

refunable January 15, 1915

refundable July 15, 1915

Once exchanged, the notes were perforated with a starshaped perforation.

star perforation

Both 1 Frank notes were issued in the same colours. Depending on the quality, they have a catalogue value of € 15 to € 50.
Both notes were issued by the city of Bruges, and were refunable at the city as well.

More notes to follow...

Emergency Money - B 1914 - 1920 - 01 Belgium - Bruges 2

In the previous post on Belgian Emergency notes from Bruges, I mentionned 4 bodies were responsible for issuing emergency currency.
3 of them were local committees, the fourth one, the most important one, was the city of Bruges itself. In 1914 they issued a set of two notes with centimes denomination, and 6 notes with higher values (starting from 1 frank).

The Mayor of Bruges at that time, was Duke Amedeus Karel Lodewijk Visart de Bocaré.

Duke A. Visart (1) and King Leopold II (2) - 1907

He was mayor til 1916, when he was deposed by the Germans, in favour of baron Ernest Marie Joseph Martin Michel van Caloen.
Baron van Caloen was member of the committee of honour of the Bruges' Esperanto Association.
The picture below was taken on the occasion of the second Esperanto Congress, held in Bruges in 1910.

Baron E. van Caloen, 1910

Both mayors (the real mayor and the mayor-ad-interim) have their signatures on the emergency notes of 1914 (although the van Caloen's signature dated from 1916).

The two emergency banknotes, issued by the Bruges' city board are 5 centimes and 25 centimes.

First of all, the 5 centimes note. (VIJF CENTIEMEN : as Bruges is a Dutch speaking city)

City of Bruges : 5 Centimes "BR193"

City of Bruges : 5 Centimes (back) "BR193"

The 'Visart' signature, appears on both notes, the 'van Caloen' signature can only be found on the 25 centimes' note.

5 centimes 'de Visart'

25 centimes 'de Visart'

The second note is a 25 centimes note.
Here there are 2 versions of the note. One is similar to the 5 centimes note. (not in my collection (yet)).
The second version is with the symbol of Bruges (a bear) on the left hand side of the note.

City of Bruges : 25 Centimes "BR196"

City of Bruges : 25 Centimes (back) "BR196"

Again the text is in Dutch, as that is the local language in Bruges.

25 centimes 'van Caloen'

The catalogue mentions a signature : E. van Calve - where it has to be E. van Caloen.
Both notes have a catalogue value of more or less € 10 - depending on the quality of the note, it can be less too. The 25 centimes (as in the picture) is slightly worth more.

to be continued ...

Emergency Money - B 1914 - 1920 - 01 Belgium - Bruges 1

Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.
When you read you begin with A, B, C, when you sing you begin with do, re, mi, ...
and when you talk about banknotes... you start with what you have.

Since I was born in Belgium, in the beautiful city of Bruges (yes from the movie "In Bruges"), I start my articles on Emergency Currency in that city.

Map of Belgium - Bruges in the North West

Belgium has now 10 provinces, (9 during the 1st WW) and Bruges is the capital city of West-Flanders. It is now the world most visited place, compared to the number of its citizens. For each citizen, there are 15 (!) tourists.

Just in case you wonder why Bruges is so popular...

As Bruges is a larger city in Belgium, a lot of people - also in 1914 - were living in the city or were related to the city. A lot of people from the surrounding areas were also depending on the welfare of the supporting organisations in Bruges.

3 Organisations and the city board of Bruges, issued emergency money in 1914.
1) National Committee for aid and nutrition - through a local committee in Bruges
2) Support of the distressed - through a local committee in Bruges
3) Support of the distressed - through helping the unemployed
4) city board of Bruges

The first 3 committees, emitted only values replacing coins (up to 1 franc) - the city board issued two centimes notes (5 and 25) - and 6 franc notes (1 - 2 - 5 - 20 - 50 and 100).
The higher values were not used as 'support for those who needed', but were also used as payments for staff, military, ...

In general we can say that the smaller the city, the more valuable the notes are.
High value notes are less used, so they hit higher prices in the catalogues too.
And finally the quality of the notes (as they are 100 years old) will be of influence of the value too.

Distribution of 'Notgeld' to families

more to follow ...

German banknotes : 1914 - 48 issues 03

At the end of the second decade of the 20th century (between 1911 and 1920), two types of banknotes were emitted  in Germany.
First we have the 'Darleh(e)nskassenschein' (without 'e' from 1917 on), notes with lower values.
Secondly, the Imperial Bank Notes (notes issued by the Imperial (National) Bank.
From 1920 on, under the so called Weimar Republic, all notes became 'Reichsbanknoten'.

1914

Two notes were printed.
A 1 Mark and a 2 Mark note. All dated 12 August 1914

KM 50, 51 and 52 are for the 1 Mark
KM 53, 54 and 55 for the 2 Mark note.

The first print (50 and 53) have no underprint colour on the back (just green for the 50, red for the 53).
The notes are printed on white paper.
The second print (51 and 54) have a green or red underprint on the back. there's a brown (51) or red (54) pattern over the entire note. These notes were printed in 1917
Finally the third printing (1920) have blue serial numbers and seals.

Germany KM 54 front

Germany KM 54 back

1917 -18

In 1917 and 1918 two additional notes were emitted by the Darleh_nskasse, (without 'e').
A 5 and a 20 Mark note came into circulation.

the 5 mark note come with 7 and 8 digits in the serial number.
KM 56a and 56b

Germany KM 56b - 8 digits in serial number

detail KM 56b

Germany KM 56b

KM 56b detail

The 20 mark came into circulation in February 1918.
It has 7 digits in the serial number and became KM 57.

KM 57

KM 57 detail

KM 57

Can you figger out who are those two beauties at the bottom of the note?
These were the last notes before the 'Weimar Republic' started in 1920.


At the left, Minerva (named after an in Belgian produced car at that time)
At the right, Mercury (easy to recognise with his winged helmet)

German banknotes : 1914 - 48 issues 02

At the beginning of the second World War, a lot of new banknotes were printed in th German Empire.
In the 'first issue'  of August 1914, a 5, 20 and 50 Mark banknote was printed.
They all have "5 August 1914" as printing date.
Yet there are differences in the notes.

5 Mark

KM 47 b front

KM 47 b front detail

KM 47 b back

This note comes in 3 variations :
# 47a (5-8-14) with 6 digit serial n°
# 47b (5-8-14) with 7 digit serial n°
# 47c (5-8-14) with 8 digit serial n°

KM 47 b serial number

KM 47a is the most valuable, 47b and 47c have the same value.

20 Mark
(not yet in my collection)

50 Mark

KM 49 front

all notes in this set bare the date 5. August 1914

detail of the front, watermark is visible

This note comes in 2 variations :
# 49a (5-8-14) with 6 digit serial n°
# 49b (5-8-14) with 7 digit serial n°

KM 49a - back side

KM 49a back side - detail with 'Germany' symbol of the German Empire

KM 49a - 6 digit in serial n°

KM 49b - 7 digits in serial n°

Value of the 49a in UNC condition is almost 10 times the value of the 49b.
In used condition, both notes are equaly priced.

German banknotes : 1914 - 48 issues 01

There is much to say about Germany and the German Empire in the 19th and 20th century.
When it comes to banknotes, the story becomes nearly endless.

A short overview of the banknotes issued from 1914 till the end of the second WW.

20 Mark

Germany KM 46 b - front

The story of this banknotes acually starts in 1906.
The first design was printed March 10, 1906.
It's easy to recognise, since the date is printed on the banknotes.

notes with the same design :
# 25a (10-3-06) with 6 digit serial n°
# 25b (10-3-06) with 7 digit serial n°
# 28 (8-6-07)
# 31 (7-2-08)
# 40a (21-4-10) with 6 digit serial n° - no WM
# 40b (21-4-10) with 7 digit serial n° - no WM
# 40c (21-4-10) Watermark "20 Mark"
# 46a (19-2-14) with 6 digit serial n°
# 46b (19-2-14) with 7 digit serial n°

The shown note, is the last issued note (date 19-2-1914 and 7 digit serial n°)

some details :

"Z" of "Zwei" on the front side of the note

"M" of "Mark" on the frond side of the note

Germany KM 46 b - back