10 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce - Marseille [13] Aluminium Pattern

French chambers of commerce began issuing emergency token coinage in 1914 when wartime hoarding stripped small change from circulation almost overnight. Marseille's chamber was among the most prolific issuers in the south, eventually producing millions of pieces in multiple denominations. This aluminium striking is a pattern — the production issues were almost certainly celluloid or cardboard, materials the Marseille chamber used extensively precisely because metal allocations were tightly controlled by the state for the war effort.