Catalog
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| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Oran |
|---|---|
| Year | 1922 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | 27 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | 25 CMES THEVENON (Translation: 25 Centimes Thevenon) |
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| Additional information |
When French Algeria's banking infrastructure seized up during and after World War I, provincial chambers of commerce across the country filled the void by issuing their own emergency token coinage — a practice that was technically irregular but tacitly tolerated by Paris. Oran's chamber was among the most prolific issuers in North Africa, producing aluminium pieces well into the early 1920s long after metropolitan France had stabilized its own small-change supply.
The aluminium composition was a direct consequence of wartime metal allocation policies that had stripped civilian minting of copper and nickel. By 1922, that rationale had expired, but the tokens remained in circulation because local merchants simply kept accepting them.