Catalog
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!
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Bougie et Sétif |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE Délibération du 9 mars 1918 BOUGIE SETIF 50 CENTIMES Le Président Le Sre Trésorier Série A. 115 N° IMP JOURDAN ALGER |
| Reverse description | Orange and brown note with an interlaced Celtic-style guilloche border framing the entire field. Two large circular medallions at upper left and right carry the numeral 50, flanking the word CENTIMES and an Arabic-script legend. A central oval vignette presents a landscape with a tree in the foreground and hills beyond, with the town names BOUGIE and SÉTIF printed vertically at either side. A redemption clause in French runs along the lower margin. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Chambres de Commerce of French Algeria were authorized to issue emergency fractional currency during the First World War to address the acute small-change shortage caused by silver coin hoarding — a problem that hit colonial Algeria particularly hard as metropolitan France's monetary disruptions rippled outward. Bougie (now Béjaïa) and Sétif operated as a joint chamber, an administrative pairing that itself reflects the economic geography of the eastern Kabylie region. Imprimerie Adolphe Jourdan was Algiers' principal commercial printer, responsible for a significant share of the Algerian chamber notes produced across this period.
The JP#139 series covers multiple emission dates under the same design; the 03/04/05 suffix distinguishes individual emission variants within that grouping.