Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Centimes
| Issuer | Chambres de Commerce de la Région Provençale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | El Mon.#10.1 |
| Obverse description | The obverse bears seven lines of inscription naming the nine towns within the Provençal region possessing a chamber of commerce: NICE, AVIGNON, NIMES, ALAIS, MARSEILLE, ARLES, DIGNE, TOULON, and GAP. The text is arranged centrally in the field without any figurative device, serving as a straightforward civic declaration of the issuing authorities. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Plain |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Issued by the Chambres de Commerce de la Région Provençale during the acute metal shortages of the First World War, this piece belongs to a broad class of French regional emergency coinage that proliferated after the Third Republic's central monetary system buckled under wartime demand. Zinc was the fallback precisely because copper and nickel had been commandeered for military production. These regional chamber issues were technically private obligations, redeemable locally, and their legal standing was always provisional.
The Provençal series was among the more organized regional efforts, coordinating across multiple départements rather than issuing piecemeal by individual town.