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50 Centimes Bône Chamber of Commerce
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Bône |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| 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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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Bust of Marianne, the allegorical effigy of the French Republic, facing left and wearing a Phrygian cap, encircled by a composite wreath of oak and laurel branches tied at the base with a ribbon. The portrait is rendered in low relief within a beaded border. The legend 'REPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE' arcs along the upper periphery, with the engraver's signature 'BORY' appearing in the lower field. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Bône's Chamber of Commerce began issuing emergency brass tokens in 1915 because the outbreak of war had caused such a severe hoarding of metallic currency across French Algeria that small-change transactions had become nearly impossible. These chambres de commerce emergency issues were a widespread stopgap across French territories — both metropolitan and colonial — authorized locally rather than by Paris, and Bône's series ranks among the more obscure North African examples.
The Lécureux reference places this firmly within the documented Algerian nécessité coinage, a collecting category still underappreciated relative to the better-known French metropolitan equivalents.