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50 Centimes - Chambres de Commerce du Lot
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce du Lot |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919-1920 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 81 × 49 mm |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | INDUSTRIE CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DU LOT AGRICULTURE 50 CENTIMES Le Trésorier, Le Président, |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue on a pink underprint composed of repeated text reading 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DU LOT', forming a security background across the central field. The elaborate guilloche border features ornamental corner medallions bearing the denomination '50', with the dates '1921' and '1924' in oval cartouches on the left and right sides respectively. The denomination '50 CENTIMES' is set in large letterpress type at the centre, flanked by two columns of legal text governing the note's validity and redemption conditions, with a circular chamber-of-commerce seal at the centre. |
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| Comments |
During and immediately after the First World War, the French central banking system effectively collapsed at the local retail level — the Banque de France simply could not supply enough small-denomination coinage to meet everyday commerce. Chambers of commerce across France were authorized to fill the gap by issuing their own paper fractional currency, the so-called monnaie de nécessité. The Lot department's chamber was one of dozens that took up this responsibility, with Pierre Dumont's Limoges press handling much of the regional output for the southwest.
These small emergency notes were intended as strictly temporary instruments, redeemable once the coinage shortage eased — most were recalled and destroyed by the mid-1920s, which accounts for their relative scarcity today despite having circulated widely in Cahors and surrounding market towns.