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2 Francs - Chambre de Commerce de Libourne 33
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Libourne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 90 × 60 mm |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Blue and yellow letterpress note with a decorative foliate border enclosing a yellow guilloche underprint. A central heraldic vignette displays a shield with a caduceus, flanked by laurel branches, below the issuer's name in bold serif letters. The denomination DEUX FRANCS appears in large white letters on a dark blue cartouche at centre, with the deliberation date, series designation, reimbursement clause, and two manuscript signatures positioned below, alongside a typeset serial number at foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
Libourne's Chamber of Commerce began issuing small-denomination emergency notes in 1915 because the wartime hoarding of coins — particularly bronze and nickel — had made change nearly impossible to find in everyday commerce. These chambres de commerce issues were explicitly temporary, authorized under French government decree, and were supposed to be withdrawn once coinage returned to normal circulation. That didn't happen quickly. Many of these Gironde-region notes remained in use well past the armistice.
Wetterwald Frères was a Bordeaux printing house that handled several southwestern French emergency issues during this period. The watermark is the primary security measure — modest by any standard, but adequate for notes whose face value made sophisticated counterfeiting economically pointless.