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2 francs - Chambre de Commerce de Marseille [13]
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Marseille |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue on a light ground, the note presents two allegorical figures in Art Nouveau style: at left, a male figure seated beside an anchor and industrial motifs, and at right, a female figure with a cornucopia, both flanking the central text panel. A guilloche underprint fills the centre, overlaid with an interlaced monogram and the denomination DEUX FRANCS in large letterpress, with the issuer's title on a banner at top and the vertical legend CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE MARSEILLE running along the left margin. The series letter and serial number appear at the foot of the central panel, with the designer's signature Valère Bernard inscribed at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE MARSEILLE DEUX FRANCS Le Trésorier Les membres Délégués SERIE S 00,707 Valère Bernard |
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| Comments |
Marseille's Chamber of Commerce resorted to issuing its own emergency paper currency in the late summer of 1914, as the mobilization for the First World War caused an immediate hoarding crisis — gold and silver coins vanished from circulation within weeks of the August declaration of war, and the national banking system could not respond fast enough to fill the gap. Chambers of commerce across France were granted provisional authority to issue these billets de nécessité, a stopgap that would run for years longer than anyone anticipated.
Valère Bernard was a well-regarded Marseillais artist and ceramicist, better known for his decorative arts work than for banknote design. Moullot, the printer, was a long-established Marseille lithography house with deep roots in the city's commercial print trade.