Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1914

Remarks:

1 pli et 2 épinglages

This emergency note with a face value of 1 franc was issued by the Chambre de Commerce de Boulogne-sur-Mer on 14 August 1914, just a few days after the outbreak of the First World War. It belongs to series B1.

This type of note fits within the context of the monetary crisis that struck France from the very first days of the conflict. Faced with the rapid disappearance of metal coins, hoarded by the population or requisitioned, many French chambers of commerce were authorised to issue necessity notes to offset the shortage of fiduciary currency in circulation. Boulogne-sur-Mer, a port city in the Pas-de-Calais, was no exception to this widespread practice.

These local issues, though provisional in nature, played an essential role in maintaining commercial exchanges at the regional level. The explicit mention of the issue date on the document attests to the official and dated character of this emergency issue, thereby guaranteeing its traceability and legitimacy among local users.

From a numismatic point of view, this note represents a direct testimony to French economic and monetary history at the very beginning of the Great War. Chamber of commerce notes from this period, particularly those issued in August 1914, are among the first to have been produced in this exceptional context, which gives them a particular historical interest. Series B1 makes it possible to precisely identify the print run to which this example belongs within the overall issue carried out by the Chambre de Commerce de Boulogne-sur-Mer.

This necessity note today constitutes a representative collectible document of French war numismatics, illustrating the local monetary adaptations imposed by the extraordinary circumstances of the First World War.