1 Franc - Ville et Chambre de Commerce de Rouen 76

The joint municipal and chamber of commerce issues from Rouen in 1916 belong to the vast wave of emergency small-denomination notes that flooded France after the wartime coin shortage became acute — bronze and nickel had been diverted for munitions production, and the Banque de France refused to print below 5 francs. Hundreds of local authorities stepped into the gap, each responsible for their own redemption guarantees.

Rouen's issues carry a watermark, which was not universal among French emergency notes of this period — many competing issues were printed on plain stock with no security provision whatsoever. The four JP reference numbers for this single denomination suggest multiple printings or serial variants across the series run.