10 Centimes

Boufarik, a small colonial town in the Mitidja plain south of Algiers, issued its own emergency fractional currency during the acute coin shortage that gripped French Algeria in the First World War. Municipal necessity notes of this type — produced locally by a jobbing printer rather than any official monetary authority — filled the gap left when small bronze and copper coins vanished from circulation, hoarded or melted almost immediately after 1914.

The official stamp was the only fraud deterrent available to a municipality working with a commercial printer and no access to specialized security printing. Unstamped examples exist and are considered unissued remainders.