50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Rouen 76

During and immediately after the First World War, the French state could not keep sufficient small-denomination coinage in circulation — metal was needed for the war effort, and hoarding did the rest. Chambers of Commerce across France were authorized to issue emergency paper fractional currency, and Rouen's chamber was among the most active, producing an extensive series of notes across multiple denominations and date variants. The JP reference numbers here reflect that proliferation: what looks like one note is actually a cluster of typographic variants distinguished by date, series letter, and minor text differences.

Imprimerie Richard handled much of this municipal emergency output. The watermark security was modest by any measure, appropriate to scrip never intended for long-term use.