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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de La Rochelle 17
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de La Rochelle |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Yellow-orange underprint with an ornate guilloche border surrounds a central oval vignette of the Port de La Rochelle-Pallice, rendered in dark brown intaglio and showing industrial quayside activity with ships, cranes, and warehouses. The denomination '0.50' appears in large numerals at upper left and right flanking the issuer's name, with signature lines for the President and Treasurer below the vignette. The series letter, emission date, and serial number are printed along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Yellow-orange underprint carries two symmetrically placed circular vignettes, each enclosing a detailed intaglio view of the prow of a sailing vessel, set within dotted circular frames with acanthus-leaf ornamental pendants. A central rectangular panel bears the emission title and date, above a large oval text cartouche containing the redemption conditions. The denomination '0.50' is printed in large dark brown numerals at lower left and right. |
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| Comments |
La Rochelle's Chamber of Commerce issued emergency fractional notes like this one to address the acute small-change shortage that plagued French commerce in the years immediately following the First World War. The Banque de France had effectively abandoned low-denomination coinage to wartime metal demands, and hundreds of local chambers across France filled the gap with their own paper. Devambez, a Paris firm with deep roots in high-quality printing and engraving, handled production for numerous such issues, with Laveau contributing the plate work here.
JP#66-07/08 covers two closely related printings distinguishable by minor typographic variations — a detail that catches out collectors who assume the series is uniform.