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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Tarbes 65
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Tarbes |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Paper |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Brown letterpress note with a decorative geometric border enclosing the central design. The municipal arms of Tarbes — a crowned quartered shield with laurel branches — appear as a vignette to the left, set against a light guilloche underprint covering the entire field. A monogram cartouche of the Chambre de Commerce is positioned at the top centre, flanked by ornamental corner pieces. The denomination '50 Centimes' is printed in large type at centre, with signature lines for the Trésorier and the Vice-Présidents below, accompanied by a printed serial number and the series designation 'SÉRIE II' at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Chambres de Commerce emergency notes issued across France from 1914 onward filled a vacuum created almost overnight when small-denomination coinage vanished from circulation — hoarded by civilians and drained by wartime metal demands. Tarbes, a modest administrative centre in the Hautes-Pyrénées, was among dozens of regional chambers authorized to issue their own fractional currency under a framework that traded on institutional trust rather than central bank backing.
L. Cassan Ainé, a Toulouse printing house, handled much of the regional emergency issue work across the southwest. The watermark security was a minimum concession to counterfeiting risk; these notes were never intended to circulate beyond local markets.