50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Besançon and du Doubs 25

French chambers of commerce were authorized to issue emergency small-denomination notes during and after World War I to compensate for the chronic disappearance of coins from circulation — hoarding and metal requisitions had gutted the fractional coinage supply well before the Armistice. By 1921, most chambers were winding these series down, making late-date issues like this one shorter-lived in circulation than their wartime predecessors. Arnaud, based in Villeurbanne near Lyon, handled a substantial share of provincial French emergency note printing during this period.