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50 Centimes - 70 Communes du Nord [59] et du Pas-de-Calais [62]
| Issuer | 70 Communes du Nord et du Pas-de-Calais |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
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| Printer | Henry Lefebvre, Cambrai, France |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset bon de caisse enclosed within a decorative letterpress border of repeated ornamental units. The denomination «0,50» appears in oval cartouches at upper left and right, flanking the central text block which lists all seventy guaranteeing communes beneath the heading «EMPRUNT GARANTI». The large display legend «CINQUANTE CENTIMES» is set in bold letterpress type at centre, with the serial number and series designation in a ruled panel at the foot; four manuscript signatures of the Commission de contrôle appear across the lower centre, accompanied by a faint circular control stamp. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | 0,50 | 0,50 EMPRUNT GARANTI par Délibération du 23 Avril 1915, des 70 Communes de Miramont, Irles, Courcelettes, Pys, Lesars, Ligny-Thilloy, Warlencourt, Grévilliers, Avesnes, Lefvilliers, Bihucourt, Achiet-le-Grand, Achiet-le-Petit, Ablainzevelle, Bucquoy, Coucelles, Ervilliers, Bapaume, Bancourt, Martinpuich, Riencourt, Beaulencourt, Gueudecourt, Behagnies, Flers, Le Transloy, Sailly-Saillisel, Frémicourt, Beugnatre, Favreuil, Vaulx-Vraucourt, Mory, Sapignies, Bertincourt, Halincourt, Villiers-au-Flos, Le Mesnil, Rocquigny, Barastre, Vélu, Bus, Lechalles, Ibras, Beugny, Beaumetz, Morchies, Moevres, Metz-en-Couture, Equancourt, Bayaucourt, Etricourt-Manancourt, Neuville, Fins, Sorel, Trescault, Havrincourt, Boursies, Delgifies, Gouzeaucourt, Ribecourt, Flesquières, Villers-Plouich, Heudicourt, Marcoing, Gonnenelieu, Lebucquière, Villers-Guislain, Hermies, Honnecourt, Graincourt. 1ere Émission de 2.300.000 Francs remboursables aux Caisses Municipales six mois après signature de la Paix. CINQUANTE CENTIMES La Commission de contrôle, Pour être valable, tout bon doit porté le timbre de la Commission de contrôle. Série 2A IMP HENRY LEFEBVRE CAMBRAI |
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During the German occupation of northern France in 1915, the regular monetary supply collapsed almost immediately — German authorities restricted French banknotes while the Banque de France was cut off from the occupied zone entirely. The response was hyperlocal: groups of municipalities banded together to print their own emergency fractional currency. This note is one of the more administratively ambitious examples of that improvisation, pooling seventy communes across two departments under a single issuing authority.
Printed by Henry Lefebvre in Cambrai — itself an occupied city — the logistical circumstances of production were anything but ordinary. The control stamp served as the primary anti-counterfeiting measure, a thin line of defense for a note already circulating under occupation.