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50 Centimes - Chambre de Commerce de Villefranche-sur-Saône 69
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Villefranche-sur-Saône |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 88 × 60 mm |
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| 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 |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Typographic underprint of the issuer's name repeated across the central field of the reverse, serving as an anti-counterfeiting measure. |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Villefranche-sur-Saône's Chamber of Commerce began issuing small-denomination emergency paper in 1915 as the wartime coin shortage bit hard across provincial France. The hoarding of metal coinage — driven by both public anxiety and the government's own metal requisitions — left local commerce effectively paralyzed at the centime level, and chambers of commerce across the country stepped in where the Banque de France would not.
X. Perroux & Fils of Mâcon were a regional printing house responsible for several similar issues from Burgundy and the Rhône valley during this period. The watermarked paper was a meaningful precaution for a denomination this small.