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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Gray and Vesoul 70
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Gray & Vesoul |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Orange and brown letterpress note with an ornate guilloche border enclosing a repeated text underprint reading CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE GRAY ET VESOUL across the entire field. At upper centre, two heraldic shields are displayed side by side beneath radiating sunburst ornaments and flanked by oak-leaf sprays. The denomination CINQUANTE CENTIMES is set in large bold type across the centre, with manuscript signatures of the Trésorier and the Président appearing below on either side of a circular cachet stamp of the Chambre de Commerce. Printer's imprint X. PERROUX & FILS / MACON appears at the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Orange and brown letterpress reverse sharing the same guilloche border and repeated text underprint as the obverse. Two large orange oval cartouches, each bearing the numeral 50 over CENTIMES in white letterpress, are positioned symmetrically at left and right. A central ornamental panel with a cartouche frame carries the emission details in black letterpress text, stating the issue date of 4 October 1915 and the redemption conditions in Banque de France notes until 1 January 1921. |
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| Comments |
Emergency local currency issued by the joint chamber of commerce covering Gray and Vesoul in the Haute-Saône department, this note belongs to the vast wave of bons de nécessité that flooded provincial France after the August 1914 mobilization drained metal coinage from circulation almost overnight. The Banque de France could not fill the gap fast enough, and chambers of commerce across the country filled it instead.
X. Perroux & Fils was a Mâcon commercial printer, not a specialist security firm — the watermark is the primary concession to forgery prevention, and a modest one at that.