Catalog
10 Centimes
| Issuer | Ville de Médéa (Municipality of Médéa) |
|---|---|
| Year | |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain yellowish paper bon de nécessité printed in black letterpress within a decorative double-rule border with rounded corners and a chain-link outer frame. The municipal authority is identified by the arched legend "VILLE DE MÉDÉA" at the top, below which the denomination "BON POUR 0.f10" is set in bold display type at centre. To the right, the mayoral authority is indicated by the printed caption "LE MAIRE" above a manuscript facsimile signature. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | LES TICKETS SERONT ÉCHANGÉS CONTRE DES BONS DE LA CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE D'ALGER OU CONTRE DES BILLETS DE BANQUE S. LÉON. ALGER |
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| Comments |
Médéa is an inland Algerian town roughly 80 kilometers south of Algiers, and like dozens of other Algerian municipalities during the First World War, it resorted to issuing its own small-denomination emergency scrip when the hoarding of metal coinage created an acute shortage of change. These municipal bons de nécessité filled the gap left by the near-total disappearance of bronze and nickel from everyday commerce — a problem that hit smaller inland towns harder than the ports, which had more flexible commercial networks.
Saumon-Marcel Léon was a mid-tier Algiers printer, not one of the major metropolitan French firms. That the municipality sourced locally rather than ordering from Paris or Lyon is itself telling.