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1 Franc - Decrombecque
| Issuer | Decrombecque, Lens (Pas-de-Calais) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1870 |
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| Reference(s) | Jérémie#62-16A |
| Obverse description | Lithographed note produced by Boldoduc frères of Lille, with an ornate scrollwork border enclosing two putti vignettes flanking the central text field. A ribbon cartouche at the top carries the legend AGRICULTURE - INDUSTRIE, while a large guilloche underprint bearing the words UN FRANC runs across the centre behind the denomination text. A circular vignette at the lower centre contains a foliate or heraldic motif, and the series letter and number A3 appear twice within the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | AGRICULTURE - INDUSTRIE DECROMBECQUE Lens ( Pas-de-Calais ) Un franc UN FRANC 1 15 Octobre 1870 A3 A3 Lith. Boldoduc f. Lille A 2. 1 fr. N Decrombecque à Lens. (Translation: AGRICULTURE - INDUSTRIE DECROMBECQUE Lens ( Pas-de-Calais ) Un franc UN FRANC 15 Octobre 1870 A3 A3 Lith. Boldoduc fr. Lille A 3. 1 fr. N Decrombecque à Lens.) |
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| Comments |
This note belongs to the category of *billets de nécessité* issued during the Franco-Prussian War, when the Prussian advance through northern France severed normal commercial and banking operations. Local merchants, notaries, and small businesses filled the vacuum by printing their own fractional paper, redeemable at their premises. Decrombecque of Lens was one such issuer — the note functioned as a private IOU backed by nothing more than local trust and the issuer's continued solvency.
Boldoduc frères in Lille handled a significant volume of this emergency small-change printing for the Pas-de-Calais region in 1870–71. The Jérémie reference indicates this has been formally catalogued within the regional nécessité literature, which helps establish legitimacy in a series prone to undocumented variants.