50 Centimes

La Rochelle's Chamber of Commerce resorted to issuing its own paper fractional currency in 1915 because the outbreak of war had caused a near-total hoarding of metal coinage across France — small change simply vanished from circulation within months of mobilization. Chambers of commerce across the country were authorized to fill the gap, producing thousands of local emergency issues that varied wildly in quality and design ambition.

Gaston Paré et Philippeau in Angers produced a surprisingly competent note for a provincial emergency instrument, incorporating a watermark — a security measure many comparable issues skipped entirely. L. André's designer credit appears in the printing, though how much creative latitude such a commission allowed is another matter.