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 - Chambre de Commerce de Belfort 90
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Belfort |
|---|---|
| Year | 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 | B. Arnaud, Villeurbanne, France (1898-1990) |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The note is printed in blue and red-orange on a salmon-toned paper ground with a repeated orange letterpress underprint reading CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE BELFORT across the field. A fine guilloche border in dark blue frames the entire design, with small red vignettes of the Lion of Belfort placed in each corner. To the left, a circular red stamp-style vignette carries the Sower figure (La Semeuse, after O. Raty) with the legend REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE; to the right, a matching circular vignette bears a laurel branch and the inscription LIBERTE·EGALITE·FRATERNITE / 1 FRANC / 1915. The denomination UN FRANC is printed in large bold blue letterpress at centre, above a vignette of the recumbent Lion of Belfort in orange. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in dark blue and red-orange on a salmon ground with the same repeated orange CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE BELFORT underprint. The guilloche border mirrors the obverse, with Lion of Belfort corner vignettes in red. A large orange numeral 1 FRANC occupies the upper portion of the field, beneath which a central circular vignette framed by laurel branches contains the redemption conditions text in letterpress. Two manuscript facsimile signatures appear below, identified as Le Trésorier at left and Le Président at right. A bold diagonal red overprint reading CIRCULATION LÉGALE DANS TOUTE L'ALSACE-LORRAINE is applied across the upper right portion of the note. |
| 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 |
Belfort's Chamber of Commerce began issuing emergency fractional notes during the First World War to address the acute shortage of small coinage — a problem that afflicted municipalities across France as metal was diverted to the war effort. The Belfort series is among the more regionally distinctive of these wartime nécessités, issued under the authority of a department that famously retained its identity as a separate territory after the 1871 annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, which gives even routine administrative documents from this area a particular historical weight.
B. Arnaud of Villeurbanne handled a substantial volume of French emergency note printing during this period. The JP# reference covering four catalogue numbers (44 through 47) indicates multiple date or series variants within this denomination.