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1 Franc - Chambre de Commerce d'Épinal [88]
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Épinal |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1921 |
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| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Brown letterpress note on a yellow guilloche underprint, with the municipal arms of Épinal — a tower flanked by olive branches — set within a decorative cartouche at top centre. The large denomination legend «UN FRANC» occupies a central oval panel, above which the issuing authority and deliberation date are inscribed in two lines. Signature lines for Le Trésorier and Le Président flank a manuscript serial number at centre, with the printer's imprint running along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Épinal's Chamber of Commerce resorted to issuing its own fractional currency during the prolonged small-change famine that gripped France after the First World War — a crisis so severe that hundreds of provincial chambers were granted emergency emission rights between 1914 and the early 1920s. Berger-Levrault, the Nancy-based printer with deep roots in official French government work, handled much of the regional output across Lorraine, which gives this series a degree of technical consistency rarely seen in emergency issues.
The JP#56 reference places this firmly within the Kolsky-catalogued French nécessité notes. Watermarked paper on a one-franc emergency piece is a minor but telling detail — an attempt at credibility for a note nobody wanted but everyone needed.