50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Bar-le-Duc 55

Bar-le-Duc's chamber of commerce issued this note under the emergency currency regime that French authorities authorized in 1914, permitting local commercial bodies to fill the void left by the sudden disappearance of small change. By 1917 the need was acute — bronze and nickel had long since been diverted to war production, and the front was barely forty kilometers east.

Berger-Levrault, a Nancy-based printing house with deep roots in official and military publishing, handled the work. Their proximity to the Meuse front made the commission quietly remarkable — Nancy itself had been under German shellfire early in the war.