Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1915

Remarks:

2 plis (milieu et coin)

This one-franc note was issued in 1915 by the Chambre de Commerce de Besançon, in the context of the First World War, a period during which the shortage of metallic currency forced many French chambers of commerce to issue their own fiduciary payment instruments for local use. These issues, known as emergency currency, were intended to offset the lack of circulating cash, as silver and bronze coins had been hoarded or melted down.

This note belongs to series AS 144, allowing its precise identification within the overall production of the Chambre de Commerce de Besançon. The face value is one franc, the French monetary unit in use at the time.

The Chambre de Commerce de Besançon, the prefecture of the Doubs department and historic capital of Franche-Comté, was one of the many regional economic institutions to take on this emergency monetary supply mission. These chamber of commerce notes circulated primarily within their geographical area of issue and were theoretically redeemable in legal tender.

From a typological standpoint, these emergency notes generally display graphic characteristics specific to each issuing chamber, including the name of the institution, the face value, the date of issue, as well as various legal and security markings intended to combat counterfeiting. The series and number printed on each note also allowed for control of circulation and issued volume.

These wartime issues represent today a significant documentary and numismatic category, bearing witness to the economic adaptations imposed by the global conflict. The example presented here, dated 1915, falls within the early years of issuance of these emergency notes, which proliferated until the end of the conflict and sometimes beyond.