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1 Franc - Chambre de Commerce de Cognac 1916
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Cognac |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in blue and black on a pink-red guilloche underprint bearing the repeated text CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE COGNAC. The upper centre carries the municipal arms of Cognac surmounted by the motto CIVIUM MEA FIDES FORTITUDO, flanked by the numeral 1 in oval cartouches at each corner. The issuer's title appears in a rectangular panel at centre, below which the denomination UN FRANC is rendered in large ornate script, with the authorising deliberation date, series number, serial number, and two manuscript signatures of the Trésorier and the Président placed beneath. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue on a pink-red guilloche underprint. A large central oval vignette presents a riverside view of Cognac, with boats moored along the Charente river and the town's quayside buildings and bridge visible in the background, executed in fine letterpress line engraving. The denomination 1 FRANC is overprinted in large red letters across the upper portion of the oval. Circular medallions at left and right each contain a stylised monogram, and the redemption clause is set in three lines of text beneath the central vignette. |
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| Comments |
The Chambres de Commerce emergency notes of the First World War occupy a strange administrative niche: issued not by a bank but by a regional trade body, they existed because the French state had effectively abandoned small denomination coinage by 1914–1915, with silver and bronze coins hoarded or melted almost immediately after mobilization. Cognac's chamber was one of dozens forced into the business of money by necessity, not mandate.
B. Arnaud of Villeurbanne — a printer best known for commercial and municipal work — handled much of this regional emergency issue work in the Rhône corridor. The watermark is the only concession to security on what is, bluntly, a locally-trusted IOU printed in volume.