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5 Kilos Acier ordinaire
| Issuer | O.C.R.P.I. (Office Central de Répartition des Produits Industriels) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940-1948 |
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| In circulation to | 31 December 1948 |
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| Obverse description | A central letterpress vignette in blue presents a male allegorical figure seated atop industrial machinery with a sword raised aloft, set against a wavy guilloche underprint. A framed denomination panel at upper right carries the value '5 Kg' in bold type. The lower portion bears a serial number with prefix 'ID' and two manuscript signatures beneath the printed titles of the Directeur de la Caisse Centrale d'Émission and the Directeur de la Sidérurgie Répartiteur. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse, headed 'ENDOS' at top centre, is executed in two-colour letterpress in blue-grey and olive-yellow over a fine guilloche wave pattern filling the entire field. A large central diamond cartouche encloses the monogram 'CCETR'. At lower centre, a framed rectangular panel carries the statutory anti-counterfeiting warning text. |
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| Comments |
The O.C.R.P.I. was established by the Vichy regime in 1940 to manage industrial rationing under German occupation — steel, aluminum, copper, rubber, all parceled out through a bureaucratic voucher system rather than the market. These "bons de matières" were not currency in any meaningful sense but functioned as industrial scrip, authorizing a holder to claim a specific weight of material from a designated supplier. The system persisted after Liberation and the O.C.R.P.I. continued operating under the provisional government until formal dissolution in 1948.
Five kilos of ordinary steel is a telling unit — small enough for a craftsman or small workshop, the kind of allocation that kept French light industry limping through the scarcity years.