50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Montluçon-Gannat 03

French wartime emergency notes issued by local Chambres de Commerce filled the vacuum left by hoarded metal coinage — by 1918, the system had become so entrenched that many of these regional issuers were producing successive series with increasingly elaborate specifications. The Montluçon-Gannat chamber served the Allier département, and having its notes printed locally by Herbin & Bouché rather than through a Parisian house was not unusual for smaller issuers working with limited wartime logistics.

The watermark security feature is worth noting on a note of this face value — half a franc warranted more protection than many issuers bothered with at the centimes level.