I have a note that seems to be Pick #108a but it has a date 05-05-38. The SCWPM gives a date range of 1.3.1938 to 11.5.1938 but does not list any individual dates. Bank Note Museum pictures 8 date varieties but does not include 05.05.38. Does anyone have a complete list of the dates (the printers must have had a lot of time on their hands to change the note' s date just about monthly)? SCWPM also indicates there are 2 signature varieties but Bank Note Museum pictures only one set of signatures and does not mention a second set. My note matches the signatures on Bank Note Museum's notes. Are there actually 2 signature varieties?
Should all dates be considered to have the same value or does anyone know if some are scarcer, such as my 05-05-38, and worth more than other more common ones? Bank Note Museum also makes an interesting comment about supposed Pick error date of 88 instead of 38 in 04-05-38: "This "variety" makes no sense, as is [sic] is not really a printing error. If one has a closer look, the first "8" is a "3" as well. Several other dates show the same vagueness at first sight". I think my note looks quite similar to 88 instead of 38 as well.
Maybe it's one of those "x. Error date: 4.5.1988." .... yours definitely doesn't look like an 38 maybe altered after the print or defect rollers.
Like the serial the date isn't on the plate but printed after, so not much time needed at all.
I looked over my SCWPM & the bank museum's various editions of this Belgium banknote (which looks to have been printed every week at one point).
When I first read your post I figured your note was likely an unlisted date. SCWPM is by no means exhaustive when it comes to dates of note printed & I won't be surprised if there's future discoveries of missing notes on the banknote museum site too. These sites (& catalogues) just report what has been seen & often can be updated with new finds.
But after looking over your scans I would suspect that you've got an undocumented error date (a variation on the 4.5.88). I can see how some would like to think of this as a "variety" (it wouldn't be hard to have a defective "3" look somewhat like an "8" given too much ink, etc) but with your note, that pretty much "seals the deal" on a bona-fide error date. Back then the dates were probably printed like serial numbers -so it would be easy for the tumblers to jam up & produce incorrect dates. This is one of the reason that the premium on the 5 Francs (P-108) is only $30 (from a regular BV of $20 to a premium of $50 for the defective date). There must have been plenty produced.
Anyway, IMO: definitely a "keeper" error date variant & congrats on that great find Will!
There are two entries in The Banknote Book on B547 (P108), which fit your banknote:
a. 01.03.1938 – 11.05.1938. Series N14 – U16.
x. 05.05.88 (error; correct: 05.05.38). Series P16.
And yours could be either one of those. After a somewhat close inspection of the scan, I would say chances are it is the latter, bearing the incorrect date.
