Castres, a mid-sized industrial town in the Tarn department, issued its own aluminium emergency coinage in 1916 because the wartime hoarding of metal coins had effectively stripped small change from everyday commerce across provincial France. The Chambre de Commerce network handled most such issues nationally, but individual communes occasionally stepped in when regional coordination failed. This piece is one of those municipal stopgaps.
Castres, a mid-sized industrial town in the Tarn department, issued its own aluminium emergency coinage in 1916 because the wartime hoarding of metal coins had effectively stripped small change from everyday commerce across provincial France. The Chambre de Commerce network handled most such issues nationally, but individual communes occasionally stepped in when regional coordination failed. This piece is one of those municipal stopgaps.