7 euros de Chamonix-Mont-Blanc [74]

The Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix, founded in 1821, is the oldest mountain guide association in the world. This note was issued as a local commemorative currency — a *billet de nécessité* in spirit if not in legal classification — in 1996, the year France was building toward euro convergence and regional identity currencies were enjoying a brief vogue among municipalities and associations keen to assert local distinctiveness before monetary union arrived.

Claude Cardot, better known for his philatelic work with La Poste, brought genuine engraving craft to the design. The watermark is atypical for a piece of this type — most association-issued local scrip of the period skipped security features entirely.