Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Saint-Omer 62
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Saint-Omer |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in dark blue on plain paper, framed by a decorative border of crossed branches. At the top centre, the municipal arms of Saint-Omer — a heraldic shield flanked by laurel sprays — serves as the central vignette, with the issuer's name CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE SAINT-OMER / PAS-DE-CALAIS repeated symmetrically on either side. Two circular cartouches flank the large denomination numeral 0.50 / CENTIMES at centre: the left cartouche reads "Émission approuvée par l'Administration Supérieure" and the right reads "Émission garantie par un dépôt de fonds d'égale valeur à la Banque de France". The serial number and facsimile signatures of the Treasurer and President appear in the lower portion, with the printer's imprint in the lower right margin. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 1º La circulation des billets est limitée à la circonscription de la Chambre de Commerce de St-Omer. 2º Ces billets ont été émis suivant les instructions du Ministre du Commerce en date du 14 Août 1914. 3º Le remboursement de ces billets aura lieu dans un délai maximum de cinq ans à dater du 1er Octobre 1915, sur avis donné et suivant les formes indiquées par la Chambre de Commerce. |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Saint-Omer's Chamber of Commerce was among the earliest French commercial bodies to issue emergency fractional notes in 1914, as the mobilization crisis drained small coinage from circulation almost immediately after the August declaration of war. These chamber notes filled a genuine transactional void before the Banque de France had organized any centralized bons de monnaie response for the region.
The JP#115 reference covers three closely related varieties distinguished by minor typographic and date differences — easy to conflate without careful comparison.