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| Issuer | Société Produits Forestiers des Landes du Sud-Ouest (SOPROFOR), Villandraut, Gironde |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914-1918 |
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| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | PRODUITS FORESTIERS DES LANDES DU SUD-OUEST VILLANDRAUT GIRONDE BON DE 25 CENTIMES No 02,003 |
| Reverse description | The reverse carries a similar geometric letterpress border to the obverse, with named cartouches along each bar enclosing the names of communes of the Landes region. The central field is occupied by a block of explanatory text in French setting out the conditions of redemption of the bon, with the names of the issuing locations and the printer's imprint at the foot. |
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| Comments |
SOPROFOR was one of dozens of private forestry and resin-tapping companies in the Landes region that issued small-denomination emergency scrip during the First World War, when the withdrawal of coinage from circulation created an acute shortage of everyday change. Villandraut sits at the heart of the maritime pine belt, and the workforce — largely composed of gemmeurs harvesting resin — needed something to transact with locally.
Imprimerie Chaix, the Paris firm best known for printing railway timetables and posters, handled a significant volume of this wartime nécessité scrip for provincial French issuers.