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50 Centimes Brown
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Alger |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE D'ALGER DÉLIBÉRATION DU 13 JANVIER 1915 50 CENTIMES عشرة سوردى Le Président, Le Secrétaire Trésorier: IMP. JOURDAN ALGER |
| Reverse description | Brown letterpress print within an oval guilloche border, with an intricate repeating microtext underprint of 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE D'ALGER' filling the central field. The denomination '50 CENTIMES 50' is displayed in large numerals flanking the central text, with the Arabic legend 'عشرة سوردى' set in the middle. A rectangular panel at the base carries the redemption clause in French. |
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| Comments |
Alger's Chamber of Commerce began issuing small-denomination emergency notes in 1915 because the war had sucked hard coin out of circulation across French Algeria almost immediately — soldiers, supply chains, and metal requisitions conspired to produce an acute shortage of fractional currency that the colonial banking system was not equipped to address quickly. Chambers of commerce across France and its territories filled that gap as a matter of administrative necessity, not banking ambition.
Adolphe Jourdan's press had been the dominant commercial printer in Algiers for decades before this note was produced, which made them the obvious local choice. The firm closed in 1916, the year after this issue.