50 centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Laval & de la Mayenne [53]

French chambers of commerce were authorized to issue emergency small-denomination notes during and after the First World War to address a severe shortage of coin — centimes had largely vanished from circulation as metal was diverted to the war effort. The Chambre de Commerce de Laval et de la Mayenne issued this series locally through Dalibard's press, which was a straightforward regional commercial printer rather than a specialist security firm. The watermark is present but modest by any serious security standard — adequate for a note no one was expected to counterfeit at fifty centimes.