Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Bayonne 64
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Bayonne |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Centimes (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Printed in brown on a light blue guilloche underprint composed of repeated anti-counterfeiting text. The centre bears the large denomination numeral '50 CENTIMES' flanked by two ornate cartouches, each enclosing '50c', surmounted by a caduceus with wings. Signature lines for the Treasurer and the President appear below the denomination, with the series designation and serial number at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Underprint |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
French chambres de commerce were authorized to issue emergency small-denomination notes in August 1914, when the mobilization order triggered an immediate hoarding of coin and the Banque de France suspended specie payments. Bayonne's chamber was among the first provincial bodies to act, and these 50-centime pieces filled the void left by vanished bronze and nickel coinage that wouldn't return to everyday use until well after the Armistice.
The JP#21-40 à 44 reference covers five catalogue varieties within this type — differences in signature combinations and series numbering rather than distinct printings. Collectors regularly conflate the rarer signature pairings with the common ones.