50 centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Libourne [33]

French chambers of commerce were authorized to issue emergency small-denomination paper in 1914 precisely because the hoarding of coins at the outbreak of war had caused a near-total collapse of small-change circulation. The Libourne chamber was one of dozens across the Gironde and broader southwest that turned to local printers rather than the grandes maisons parisiennes — Wetterwald Frères being the obvious Bordeaux choice for the region.

JP#72.1 is the first in Libourne's wartime series. The watermark is a modest but deliberate security measure for what was essentially municipal scrip, intended to deter local copying rather than sophisticated forgery.