Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
1 Franc CDC Constantine
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Constantine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | JP#140 - 02/04/05/10/11/15/16/18 |
| Obverse description | The obverse bears the full text of the Chamber of Commerce deliberation dated May 1, 1915, authorizing the issue, with the issuing authority's name in bold letterpress at the top within a guilloche border. The denomination 'BON POUR UN FRANC' is set centrally, flanked by the printed signature lines for the President and the Treasurer. The overall layout is typographic with no pictorial vignette, consistent with emergency wartime chamber of commerce issues. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-green on plain paper within a rectangular guilloche border, with ornamental rosette devices at each corner. The large bold numeral '1' appears in teal circular cartouches at left and right, flanking the central denomination text 'FRANC' in large black letterpress. Below the denomination, the Arabic equivalent 'فرنك' is inscribed, followed by two lines of French text affirming perpetual exchangeability against Banque de l'Algérie notes, with the printer's imprint along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Constantine's Chambre de Commerce issued these francs as local emergency currency after the outbreak of war drained metallic coin from circulation across French Algeria — a problem common to chambers of commerce throughout the empire and metropolitan France alike during this period. Waton's press in Saint-Étienne supplied a number of similar emergency issues to provincial issuers, making the printing origin unremarkable, though the Algerian colonial application is less frequently discussed.
The JP# reference covers an unusually wide spread of variety numbers, indicating significant typographic and date variation across the 1915–1918 window. Collectors should distinguish carefully between these variants, as relative scarcity differs sharply across the sequence.