50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Melun

French Chambres de Commerce gained emergency authority to issue small-denomination paper money in August 1914, when the mobilization panic caused coins to vanish almost overnight into private hoards. Melun's chamber was among the earlier provincial issuers to take up that authority, producing notes to cover the chronic shortage of fractional currency that persisted well into the postwar period — hence the 1915–1919 span across three catalogue references under this single type designation.

The watermarked paper is notable for such a minor local issue; many comparable provincial emergency notes dispensed with security features entirely.