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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Bordeaux 33
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Bordeaux |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | JP#30-24/25 |
| Obverse description | Red letterpress note on cream-toned paper with a fine guilloche underprint. The issuer's name CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE BORDEAUX is inscribed within a cartouche at the top centre, above the large denomination legend CINQUANTE CENTIMES. At centre, an octagonal vignette bears the arms of Bordeaux with the motto QUO NON HAEC DUCE, flanked by the series number to the left and the serial number to the right, with signature lines for the Treasurer and President above. A scroll at the base carries the legend LA CONTREVALEUR DE CES BONS EST DÉPOSÉE AU TRÉSOR PUBLIC, with the printer's imprint at lower left and the word BORDEAUX at lower right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Red letterpress design on cream-toned paper, with a geometric guilloche border framing the entire note and the denomination numeral 50 repeated in each corner margin. To the left, an oval vignette contains the coat of arms of the city of Bordeaux — a crowned castle above waves, surmounted by a caduceus and flanked by decorative foliage — enclosed within a wreath border. To the right, the numeral 50 and the word centimes are printed in large bold type, with the redemption clause set in smaller text beneath. |
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| Comments |
French Chambers of Commerce were authorized to issue emergency fractional notes during and after World War I to address a nationwide shortage of small change — centimes coins had effectively vanished from circulation, hoarded or melted. The Bordeaux chamber's 50 centimes notes circulated locally well into the early 1920s before the Chambre's emission rights were wound down by central decree.
Gounouilhou was a long-established Bordeaux printing house, not a specialist security printer, which accounts for the relatively modest production values of this series. The watermark is the primary anti-counterfeiting measure.