5 Centimes - Chambre Syndicale des Commerçants - Perpignan [66]

French municipal and trade-body emergency tokens flooded local economies in the early 1920s as the wartime metal shortage persisted well past the Armistice. The Chambre Syndicale des Commerçants de Perpignan — a merchants' trade association, not a government authority — issued cardboard scrip because the central mint simply could not supply enough small-denomination coinage to meet everyday retail demand. Perpignan's position as a regional commercial hub near the Spanish border made the shortage particularly acute, with cross-border trade compounding the circulation pressure on low-value coins.

Cardboard nécessité tokens of this type degraded quickly in pocket and till, which accounts for the difficulty in finding survivors without significant edge wear or staining.