1 Franc - Chambre de Commerce d'Angers

Like hundreds of French chambers of commerce, Angers stepped in to fill an acute shortage of small-denomination coinage in the opening months of the First World War — hoarding had stripped silver and bronze from everyday circulation almost overnight by late 1914. These emergency fractional notes, technically bons de caisse rather than banknotes, were issued under authority granted by the French state but backed solely by the issuing chamber's commercial guarantee.

The JP reference range here reflects multiple distinct date variants within the same basic type, all sharing the Paré et Philippeau imprint. The watermark is the only meaningful security measure — appropriate given the purely local reach of these notes.