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25 Centimes - Béthune Mining Company
| Issuer | Compagnie de Béthune |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Vouchers |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper with a red letterpress floral guilloche border enclosing the entire face. The issuer name appears in bold gothic lettering across the top, with the series number at right and a serial number at left in the central field. The denomination VINGT-CINQ CENTIMES is set in large bold type, flanked by numeral values and the date 15 Janvier 1917. Printer's imprint at foot reads Imp. Chaix, 20, r. Bergère, Paris. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | COMPAGNIE DE BÉTHUNE VINGT-CINQ CENTIMES 0 fr. 25 15 Janvier 1917 0 fr. 25 Série 4 |
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| Comments |
The Compagnie de Béthune operated coal mines in the Pas-de-Calais basin, a region that spent much of the First World War either under German occupation or directly behind the front lines. By 1917, the disruption to normal banking and coin supply was severe enough that industrial employers across northern France resorted to printing their own fractional notes — bons de nécessité — to pay workers and keep internal commerce moving. This note is one such instrument, entirely local in economic scope.
Imprimerie Chaix was a serious commercial printer with a long history of railway timetables and official publications; its involvement here reflects how widespread the emergency scrip phenomenon had become by mid-war.