Catalog
10 Centimes - Groupement de Commerçants - Poissy [78]
| Issuer | Groupement de Commerçants de Poissy |
|---|---|
| Year | |
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| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
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| Obverse description | Octagonal zinc token with a central round perforation. A caduceus device is positioned immediately below the central hole in the field. The peripheral legend, incuse-struck in raised lettering along the octagonal border, reads GROUPEMENT DE COMMERÇANTS DE POISSY with the subsidiary inscription MARQUE DÉPOSÉE flanking the caduceus at the lower portion of the field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Plain octagonal field featuring the bold numeral '10' as the sole design element, centered around the central round perforation, with the digit '1' to the left and '0' to the right of the hole. Both numerals are rendered with horizontal line engraving filling their interior surfaces, giving a ribbed or hatched appearance. The surrounding octagonal border is plain and unadorned. |
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| Additional information |
French merchant association tokens like this one filled a genuine gap during the coin shortages of World War II, when the Vichy government's metal requisitions and supply disruptions left local commerce starved of small change. The Groupement de Commerçants de Poissy — a retailer consortium in this Seine-et-Oise industrial town — issued zinc tokens as a local workaround, redeemable within the participating merchant network. Zinc was itself a compromised material by this point, heavily allocated to German war industry, which makes its appearance here in civilian commerce worth noting.