50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Nevers

The Chambres de Commerce emergency notes issued across France between 1914 and the early 1920s filled a genuine void — the wartime hoarding of metal coinage had stripped small-denomination currency from everyday commerce almost entirely. Nevers was one of dozens of provincial chambers authorized to print their own fractional notes, and the series continued well past the Armistice simply because the coin shortage did not resolve quickly.

Printing locally at Fortin & Co rather than using one of the major Parisian houses kept costs down but also kept quality variable across the JP#90 series. Balon's design work for the Nevers chamber was competent regional commercial printing — nothing more.