5 Centimes

Vanves, a small commune immediately south of Paris, issued these aluminium nécessité tokens in 1918 when wartime metal requisitions and hoarding had stripped ordinary small change from everyday commerce. Municipal committees across France improvised their own fiduciary substitutes rather than wait for central relief — Vanves being among dozens of communes that did so, each with its own issuing authority and redemption terms. The aluminium composition reflects what was actually available, not what was preferred.