10 Centimes - Chambres de Commerce - Provençal Region Brass

Issued by the Chambres de Commerce de la Région Provençale as emergency currency during the postwar coin shortage that plagued France well into the early 1920s. The Banque de France had been unable to meet demand for small-denomination coinage — partly a consequence of wartime metal requisitions — and regional chambers of commerce across the country stepped into the gap, issuing their own necessity tokens with official sanction. Provence was among the more prolific producers, coordinating issues across multiple member cities rather than fragmenting into competing local types.