Bône — today Annaba in northeastern Algeria — operated its Chamber of Commerce emergency coinage during and immediately after World War I, when the disruption of French metropolitan coin supply left Algerian commercial life starved of small change. These aluminium pieces filled a practical void, issued under local commercial authority rather than any colonial monetary administration. The lightweight metal was a wartime expedient; aluminium had little intrinsic value and was easy to source when copper and nickel were diverted to the war effort.
The multiple Lecompte references reflect die and planchet variants documented across the series.
Bône — today Annaba in northeastern Algeria — operated its Chamber of Commerce emergency coinage during and immediately after World War I, when the disruption of French metropolitan coin supply left Algerian commercial life starved of small change. These aluminium pieces filled a practical void, issued under local commercial authority rather than any colonial monetary administration. The lightweight metal was a wartime expedient; aluminium had little intrinsic value and was easy to source when copper and nickel were diverted to the war effort.
The multiple Lecompte references reflect die and planchet variants documented across the series.