50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Bourges 1922

French chambres de commerce became de facto monetary authorities between 1914 and the mid-1920s, filling the void left when hoarding stripped small-denomination coinage from circulation almost overnight after mobilization. Bourges was no exception. This 50 centimes piece belongs to a long-running local emission that persisted well past the armistice, kept alive by the same shortage conditions that had created it.

The note was produced entirely in-house — Vve Tardy - Pigelet & fils was a local Bourges printing house, and the designer J. Tardy's surname is not coincidental. H. Richy handled the engraving work. JP#32-12 places it within a documented series, and the watermarked paper represents one of the few concessions to anti-counterfeiting on what was always intended as a temporary, disposable instrument.