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 Cette 34
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Cette |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Franc |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue on a pink ground bearing the same repeated-text underprint. The large pink denomination «UN FRANC» is overprinted across the upper half, centred below which is a small caduceus vignette. Two text panels set in decorative cartouches occupy the lower portion: the left notes that the bons are redeemable at all Banque de France branches in the Hérault department, and the right states the latest presentation date of 11 August 1920. Circular medallions in each corner each bear the denomination numeral «1 F». |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Cette — now Sète — was a major Mediterranean port, and its Chamber of Commerce was among dozens of French regional bodies that began issuing small-denomination emergency paper in 1914–15 when metal coinage effectively vanished from circulation, hoarded by the public and consumed by wartime industrial demand. The Banque de France had no mechanism to fill the gap quickly at the local level, so the chambers stepped in under a temporary legal authorization that few expected to last as long as it did.
B. Arnaud of Lyon was a prolific printer of this type of billet de nécessité, supplying numerous southern chambers during the war years. The watermarked paper was a modest deterrent to forgery given the low face value.