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1 Franc - Chambre de Commerce de Béthune 62
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Béthune |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Typographic watermark repeating the text 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE BETHUNE' in interlocking letters across the entire face of the note. |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Chambres de Commerce emergency notes of the First World War exist because the French banking system effectively seized up in 1914–1915. Coin hoarding stripped small denominations from circulation almost immediately after mobilization, and the Banque de France could not fill the gap fast enough. Local chambers of commerce across northern France stepped in under a government authorization of August 1914, issuing their own fractional notes to keep commerce moving.
Béthune sits in the Pas-de-Calais, close enough to the front lines that parts of the region changed hands during the war. That a functioning chamber of commerce was still issuing and circulating paper in 1916 says something about how partition of the occupied and unoccupied zones actually worked in practice.