25 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce d'Aurillac [15]

French chambers of commerce were authorized to issue emergency small-change notes during the First World War to offset a severe shortage of coins — silver and copper had effectively vanished from circulation by 1915, hoarded by the public and absorbed by the war effort. The Aurillac chamber, serving the Cantal département, printed its own series rather than relying on a distant national printer, contracting instead with the local firm Delostal & Germa. Félix Tourdes, the designer, was himself based in the region.

The extended validity window through 1923 reflects how stubbornly the small-change crisis persisted well beyond the Armistice.