Catalog
10 Centimes
| Issuer | Union des Commerçants d'Orleansville |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed entirely in black letterpress on orange cardboard stock. The arched legend UNION DES COMMERÇANTS curves across the upper portion, with the denomination 0 fr. 10 in large bold numerals at centre, flanked by small floral ornaments. The issuer name D'ORLEANSVILLE appears in bold capitals across the lower field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | UNION DES COMMERÇANTS ⁕ 0fr.10 ⁕ D'ORLEANSVILLE (Translation: Orléansville Merchants Union.) |
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| Comments |
Orleansville — today Chlef — was a mid-sized Algerian colonial town, and like dozens of similar communities during the First World War, its merchants banded together to issue small-denomination emergency scrip when the acute coin shortage hit French Algeria in 1914–15. The metropolitan government's wartime metal demands stripped bronze and nickel from everyday commerce, leaving market transactions without viable small change. Local trade associations stepped in.
The Union des Commerçants issues from this period are among the more ephemeral of Algeria's WWI nécessité notes — printed on tinted cardboard rather than engraved banknote paper, circulated among ordinary shopkeepers, and rarely preserved once the shortage eased.