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2 Francs - Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens [80]
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Red-orange letterpress note with a standing allegorical female figure in classical robes occupying a vignette at left within a decorative arch border. The upper portion bears the inscriptions VILLE D'AMIENS and BANQUE DUVETTE, with the denomination DEUX FRANCS in large bold type at centre and the date 15 Septembre 1914 below. Four manuscript signatures appear across the face — those of Le Maire, L'Emetteur, and Les Délégués de la Chambre de Commerce — with a boxed serial number at lower right and the printer's imprint IMP. DU PROGRÈS at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Without watermark |
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| Comments |
When the German advance into northern France in August 1914 caused a near-total collapse of everyday commerce, local chambers of commerce across the region began issuing their own emergency notes to replace coinage that had vanished from circulation almost overnight. Amiens was among the earliest to act. These fractional notes — 2 francs being the workhorse denomination — were printed by a local press with no particular security infrastructure, which is why the watermark is the only meaningful anti-counterfeiting measure present.
The Imprimerie du Progrès de la Somme operated continuously until its destruction in 1944, making surviving paper from this period a minor footnote in the press's own history.