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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Foix 09
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Foix |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Centimes (0.50) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue on a guilloche underprint of repeating text CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE FOIX, the face bears the issuer's name in an arc along the upper border and the large denomination numeral 50 CENTIMES at centre. A circular chamber of commerce seal is applied at lower centre, flanked by two manuscript signatures above the printed titles Le Trésorier and Le Président, with a serial number at lower right and the printer's imprint IMP. FRA & Cie. FOIX. along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Bees |
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| Comments |
The Chambre de Commerce de Foix was one of hundreds of French regional chambers of commerce that stepped in to fill a catastrophic small-change vacuum in 1915. The war had driven silver and bronze coinage into hoarding almost overnight, and the Banque de France had neither the capacity nor the mandate to address fractional currency at the local level. Chambers of commerce across France were formally authorized to issue emergency paper from mid-1914 onward, and Foix — capital of the Ariège, a small prefectural town in the Pyrenean foothills — printed its own through the local firm Fra & Cie.
JP#59-01 and 59-02 designate two signing varieties within this emission, distinguishable by the manuscript or typeset authorization signatures rather than any change in the printed design.