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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens [80]
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce d'Amiens |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Printed in dark red on buff paper, the obverse presents a tall allegorical vignette at left of a standing female figure in classical robes set against a coastal scene with a sailing vessel; the upper field carries the inscriptions VILLE D'AMIENS and BANQUE DUVETTE above the large denomination numeral 50 CENTIMES, with the issue date 15 Septembre 1914 below. Three manuscript signature lines appear in the lower portion for Le Maire, L'Émetteur, and Les Délégués de la Chambre de Commerce, accompanied by a serial number in a boxed panel at the base. A circular administrative stamp appears at lower left, with the printer's imprint IMP. DU PROGRÈS noted at foot. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| 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.