1923 French German Territories Railway Authority 1 Franc Note - Rare Occupied Germany Note - 1923 France RCFTO One Franc Note - P#R5

This listing is for the photographed 1923 Regie des Chemins de Fer des Territoires Occupes (RCFTO) French Occupied Germany 1 Franc note. Issued by the RCFTO or railway authority in the occupied German territory of Saarland. The obverse of this note shows a train car at the upper center, and the underprint of a castle at the center with a floral border. The reverse of this note depicts a view of the city of Mainz in the background and the God Neptune laying down holding a cornucopia in the foreground on the right end. Very Fine (VF) grade/condition, some folds and other signs of circulation, minor tape reinforcements on the upper and lower center of the reverse. P#R5 (Pick Number R5). Fantastic piece of history in excellent condition. Rare French occupied Germany note!

At the end of World War 1 France and Belgium sought to quickly implement the Versailles Accords which officially ended the war by imposing harsh penalties on Germany such as forcing them to accept war guilt, pay massive reparations to the involved countries, cede territory, and significantly cut their military. Germany was not able to immediately repay their debts to these countries, which resulted in Belgium and France occupying the German region of Rhineland until the debts were paid. The Regie des Chemins de Fer des Territoires Occupes (RCFTO) was established to exploit the mineral resources of the occupied territories to pay back Germany's debts to France and Belgium. Buring the summer of 1923 the German currency lost most of its value, which weakened the Rhineland economy and caused difficulty for the operations of the RCFTO. In anticipation of the devaluing of the German mark, the Director of the RCFTO designed a special paper currency in 10 denominations that would act as transport vouchers for users of the railway. These notes were issued in 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 1, 0.50-, 0.25-, 0.10-, and 0.05-franc denominations. The notes only circulated from October 1923 to February 1924, making surviving notes from this company a rarer find! Only about 65 million notes were produced in total throughout all 10 denominations.

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1923 French German Territories Railway Authority 1 Franc Note - Rare Occupied Germany Note - 1923 France RCFTO One Franc Note - P#R5