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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce d'Orléans et de Blois [45] [41]
| Issuer | Chambres de Commerce d'Orléans et de Blois |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1921 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Red-brown letterpress frame with caryatid-style lion-mask pilasters at left and right, enclosing a central blue guilloche vignette bearing the denomination '50 CENTes' in large white letters within a decorative cartouche. The issuer title 'CHAMBRES DE COMMERCE D'ORLÉANS ET DE BLOIS' appears in blue at the top, with the year '1921' in corner boxes, while below the central vignette the titles of the two chamber presidents flank a repeating text underprint, above two manuscript signatures and a serial number panel. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
During the First World War and its aftermath, France suffered an acute shortage of small-denomination coins, prompting hundreds of regional chambers of commerce to issue their own emergency paper fractional currency. The joint issue by the Orléans and Blois chambers — covering the Loiret and Loir-et-Cher departments respectively — reflects the administrative consolidation some chambers pursued to reduce printing costs and simplify distribution across neighboring territories.
Printed locally by the Imprimerie du Loiret, the note is unusually square for French emergency issues of the period, a consequence of keeping the format as economical as possible on press sheets.