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1 Franc - Chambre de Commerce D'Amiens [80]
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
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| In circulation to | 5 November 1920 |
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| Obverse description | The face is printed in brown on a cream ground, enclosed within an ornate foliate border with acanthus-leaf corners. The denomination numeral '1' appears in circular cartouches at left and right, flanking the large central letterpress legend 'UN FRANC', beneath which a faint armorial underprint is visible. The issuer's title 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE D'AMIENS' runs along the top, with spaces below for the Trésorier and Président signatures alongside a printed serial number, and the printer's imprint 'I.P. PROGRÈS DE LA SOMME' at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE D'AMIENS | 1 | UN | FRANC | 1 | Le Trésorier | Le Président | N° | I. P. PROGRÈS DE LA SOMME |
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| Comments |
The Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens began issuing emergency fractional notes in 1914–1915 as small change vanished from circulation almost immediately after mobilization — hoarded by a public that had stopped trusting the supply chain entirely. This 1 Franc piece belongs to that first wave of locally-printed necessity currency that proliferated across French departments when the Banque de France couldn't meet demand for small denominations.
The Imprimerie du Progrès de la Somme, which produced this note, was a regional press operating in Amiens until its destruction in 1944. Printing a watermarked emergency note locally rather than contracting a specialist security printer was unusual — the watermark here is a modest deterrent, not a serious anti-counterfeiting measure.