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5 Centimes
| Issuer | Union des Commerçants d'Orleansville |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916-1918 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Plain khaki-toned card stock printed in black letterpress. The issuer's name arches across the upper portion in stencil-style capital lettering reading UNION DES COMMERÇANTS, with the denomination 0 fr. 05 set in large bold numerals at centre. The town name D'ORLEANSVILLE appears in a straight line across the lower portion, completing the sparse but functional emergency-issue layout. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection description | Circular violet handstamp of the Union des Commerçants applied to the reverse; a manuscript or facsimile signature overlapping the handstamp serves as an additional validation. |
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| Comments |
Orleansville — now Chlef — was a small colonial town in Algeria's Cheliff valley, and by 1916 the wartime drain on small coinage had become acute enough that local merchants banded together to issue their own emergency scrip. The Union des Commerçants, a merchants' cooperative rather than any banking authority, produced these cardboard tokens to fill the gap left by hoarded bronze. Similar chambers of commerce issues were proliferating across French Algeria and metropolitan France simultaneously, authorized under wartime emergency provisions.
The handstamp and signature are the only authentication measures — thin guarantees, but typical of the urgency under which these were produced.