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50 Centimes - Chambres de commerce d'Alençon et de Flers [61]
| Issuer | Chambres de Commerce d'Alençon et de Flers |
|---|---|
| Year | 1915 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1795-1959) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Green letterpress note framed by an ornate floral and foliate guilloche border running the full perimeter. The issuer title 'CHAMBRES DE COMMERCE D'ALENÇON ET DE FLERS, ORNE' is set across the top, with the denomination '50 Centimes' in large bold type at centre and the deliberation date of 10 August 1915 below. Two signature blocks occupy the lower portion, with manuscript signatures above the printed titles identifying the President of the Chamber of Commerce at left and the Vice-President at right. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Alençon and Flers were paired under a joint Chamber of Commerce issue because neither town's commercial infrastructure was substantial enough to support an independent emergency currency. The 1915 date places this squarely in the early wartime small-change crisis — the hoarding of coins that followed the outbreak of war in 1914 forced hundreds of French provincial chambers to produce their own fractional notes, many of them crude, short-lived, and poorly documented.
The multiple JP reference numbers reflect the several distinct date and signatory variants across the series, not separate designs. Watermarked paper was a deliberate choice to deter local counterfeiting, though the security it provided was modest at best.