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50 Centimes Blue
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Constantine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Printed in blue on an orange underprint, the reverse is dominated by an elaborate acanthus-scroll guilloche border enclosing the central denomination. The value "50 CENTIMES" is set within a bold oval cartouche flanked by numeral tablets, with two curved ribbon banners above and below bearing the redemption clause in capital letters. |
| Reverse lettering | ECHANGEABLE CONTRE DES BILLETS DE LA BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE 50 CENTIMES |
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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.