Catalog
25 Centimes Gournay-en-Bray
| Issuer | Gournay-en-Bray, Commune of |
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| Year | |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Milled |
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| Obverse description | At center, the municipal coat of arms of Gournay-en-Bray, depicting a crowned shield bearing a lion passant in low relief. The arms are surmounted by a mural crown. Surrounding the shield, the circular legend reads in two arcs separated by raised dots, with the issuing authority's name occupying the full periphery of the field. |
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| Obverse lettering | UNION COMMERCIALE · GOURNAY-EN-BRAY · |
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| Additional information |
Gournay-en-Bray, a market town in Normandy long known for its dairy trade, issued local emergency coinage during the First World War when the hoarding of metal coins created acute shortages across provincial France. These aluminum pieces circulated as necessity money — monnaie de nécessité — filling the gap left by the near-total disappearance of bronze and nickel from daily commerce after 1914. Hundreds of French communes did the same, making attribution and variety tracking the primary challenge for collectors of this material.