The Chambres de Commerce emergency notes issued across provincial France during and after World War One represent one of the largest decentralized currency experiments in modern French history — by 1920, over 500 local chambers had issued their own paper in denominations ranging from 5 centimes to 2 francs. Châteauroux, the prefecture of Indre, was among the earlier provincial issuers, stepping in to address the acute coin shortage that the wartime metal demands had created.
Badel was a local press, not a specialist security printer. The watermark is the primary anti-counterfeiting measure, which set a low bar even by the standards of the series.
The Chambres de Commerce emergency notes issued across provincial France during and after World War One represent one of the largest decentralized currency experiments in modern French history — by 1920, over 500 local chambers had issued their own paper in denominations ranging from 5 centimes to 2 francs. Châteauroux, the prefecture of Indre, was among the earlier provincial issuers, stepping in to address the acute coin shortage that the wartime metal demands had created.
Badel was a local press, not a specialist security printer. The watermark is the primary anti-counterfeiting measure, which set a low bar even by the standards of the series.