50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Cette 34

Cette — the Mediterranean port town now called Sète — issued emergency fractional notes through its Chamber of Commerce during the acute coin shortage that gripped France in the early war years. By mid-1915, hoarding of metal coinage had stripped small denominations from circulation almost entirely, forcing hundreds of provincial chambers to print their own scrip. This note is one of that wave.

B. Arnaud of Villeurbanne, a Lyon-area printer with a long run in commercial and administrative work, handled the job. The JP# reference covers four distinct varieties within the series, differing in watermark or paper stock — distinguishing them requires careful examination under transmitted light.