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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens [80]
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Imprimerie du Progrès de la Somme, Amiens, France (1869-1944) |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse, printed entirely in dark red on buff paper, is covered by a dense all-over letterpress underprint of stylised bamboo or reed foliage forming a repeating geometric pattern across the full field, framed by a decorative border of interlocking ornamental elements. The denomination value 0,50 is repeated in small boxed cartouches at each corner, with a central rectangular panel bearing the bold numeral 0,50. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
When German forces advanced through northern France in August 1914, the banking system seized up almost immediately. Chambers of commerce across the occupied and threatened regions began issuing their own small-denomination paper simply to keep local trade functional — metal coinage had vanished into hoarding within weeks. The Amiens chamber was among the earliest to act, and this 50 centimes piece belongs to that first urgent wave of emergency nécessité issues.
The Imprimerie du Progrès de la Somme was a local press, not a security printer. The watermarked paper was the primary concession to anti-counterfeiting, which tells you something about how quickly this was put together.