50 Centimes Red

Constantine's Chamber of Commerce began issuing small-denomination emergency paper in 1915 to offset the acute coin shortage caused by wartime metal requisitioning. French Algeria's commercial chambers were authorized to produce local fiduciary notes under a broader metropolitan policy that extended emergency currency powers to colonial territories — a practical concession to the near-total disappearance of bronze and cupro-nickel from everyday trade.

Imprimerie Adolphe Jourdan was the dominant press in Algiers for official and semi-official print work throughout this period. The 1919 date likely reflects a reissue or extended authorization rather than the series' original printing.