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50 Centimes Blue
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Constantine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Blue and black letterpress on orange underprint. The note carries the issuing authority's title across the top, with the denomination in large numerals and the date of deliberation inscribed centrally. Black serial numbers appear on the face, and the municipal coat of arms is positioned at the bottom centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE CONSTANTINE DÉLIBÉRATION DE 13 JANVIER 1921 50 CENTIMES Le Trésorier Le Président IMP. JOURDAN, ALGER |
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| Comments |
Chambers of commerce across French Algeria issued their own emergency fractional notes during and after World War I to address the chronic shortage of small coinage — a problem that the metropolitan franc system never adequately resolved for the colonies. Constantine's chamber was among the more prolific local issuers in eastern Algeria, producing a series of small-denomination notes through the early 1920s as the coin shortage dragged on well past the armistice.
Adolphe Jourdan was the dominant commercial printer in Algiers for this type of work, supplying chamber notes to multiple municipalities across the colony. That common provenance means the printing quality is consistent but the notes are not rare by manufacture — scarcity, where it exists, comes from low survival rates among heavily circulated low-denomination paper.