10 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Montluçon-Gannat 03

French chambers of commerce were authorized to issue emergency small-change notes during WWI after hoarding and metal shortages caused a near-total collapse of coin circulation. Montluçon-Gannat's chamber covered an industrial corner of the Allier department — Montluçon was a significant metallurgical center, which gave its local commerce authority both the need and the clout to print its own fractional currency. The 10 centimes denomination was the smallest and most heavily used in daily transactions, meaning survivors in decent shape are proportionally harder to find than the 25 or 50 centimes from the same series.

Printed locally by Herbin & Bouché rather than one of the major Parisian houses — an unusual choice that kept production close to the issuer but resulted in less sophisticated execution than contemporaneous issues from Lyon or Bordeaux chambers.