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1 Franc Red and blue
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Constantine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Franc |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | 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 | Letterpress in red over a blue guilloche underprint bearing the repeated text 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE CONSTANTINE'. The central vignette consists of an ornate cartouche with scrollwork and laurel branch ornaments enclosing the large denomination text 'UN FRANC', surrounded by a continuous decorative border of small lozenges. |
| Reverse lettering | UN FRANC ÉCHANGEABLE CONTRE DES BILLETS DE LA BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE |
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| Comments |
Constantine's Chamber of Commerce resorted to issuing its own emergency fractional notes in 1920 because the postwar coin shortage in French Algeria had become genuinely disruptive to retail commerce — small denominations had effectively vanished from circulation. Chambers of Commerce across Algeria and metropolitan France were authorized to fill the gap, producing a patchwork of locally issued scrip that varied widely in quality and staying power.
Jules Carbonel was the dominant commercial printer in Algiers during this period, handling a significant share of the Algerian chamber notes. The two-color printing — red and blue — was a deliberate anti-counterfeiting measure on a note that would otherwise have been trivially simple to reproduce.