Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1915

Remarks:

Légères traces d'usure.

This 1 franc note was issued in 1915 by the Chambre de Commerce de Bayonne (Bayonne Chamber of Commerce), in the particular context of the First World War. During this period of conflict, the shortage of metallic coinage led many French chambers of commerce to issue their own emergency banknotes in order to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation. These local issues played a fundamental role in maintaining commercial exchanges at the regional level.

This note bears the mention « Annulé » (Cancelled), indicating that it was officially withdrawn from circulation and invalidated by the issuing authority. This cancellation was generally materialised by a perforation, an overprint or a stamp applied directly onto the note. Cancelled notes are of particular documentary and historical interest, bearing witness to the administrative process of withdrawing emergency issues.

The Chambre de Commerce de Bayonne, an institution representing the economic interests of the city and its region, was the authority responsible for this local fiduciary issue. Bayonne, a city in the French Basque Country, had a notable commercial activity at the time, justifying the use of such an emergency monetary measure.

These emergency notes issued by French chambers of commerce during the First World War are today highly sought-after collectibles among specialists in French numismatics and regional paper money. They represent tangible testimonies of local economic adaptations in the face of the constraints imposed by the global conflict, and illustrate the diversity of monetary solutions adopted across the different regions of France between 1914 and 1922, a period during which these issues were progressively withdrawn in favour of a return to a unified national monetary circulation.