Catalog
50 Centimes
| Issuer | Syndicat des Commerçants de Sidi Bel Abbès (Department de Oran) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Centimes (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Buff card stock printed in black letterpress. A rectangular ornamental panel with decorative corner pieces at upper left carries the denomination '0,50', while a second denomination panel enclosed within a guilloche-style ornamental frame at lower right repeats the same value. A manuscript signature in ink crosses the centre of the reverse diagonally. |
| Reverse lettering | 0,50 |
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| Comments |
Sidi Bel Abbès was the garrison town of the French Foreign Legion's headquarters in Algeria, and by 1916 the wartime drain on small coinage across France and its territories had become severe enough that local merchant associations were issuing their own emergency scrip. This note is one of hundreds of such nécessité issues produced across Algeria and metropolitan France during 1914–1918, when hoarding removed virtually all bronze and nickel from circulation.
The Syndicat des Commerçants — a local traders' collective, not a bank — had no issuing authority in any formal sense. Acceptance depended entirely on community trust and the willingness of member merchants to honor the scrip at face value.