Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1915

This 1 franc note was issued by the Chambre de Commerce de Cahors on 1st January 1915, in the particular context of the First World War. During this period, the shortage of metallic currency, due in particular to hoarding and the needs of the war effort, forced many French chambers of commerce to issue emergency notes in order to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation.

The Chambre de Commerce de Cahors, a representative institution of the economic fabric of the Lot department, was thus one of the many local entities that resorted to this emergency solution to maintain commercial exchanges in their territory. These local issues, although temporary, played an essential role in maintaining regional economic activity.

This note belongs to series F, a detail that allows collectors and numismatists to precisely identify the issue variant among all the notes produced by this chamber of commerce. The different series reflect the successive needs for fiduciary currency at the local level and make it possible to trace the volumes of issue in a chronological and organised manner.

As a French emergency note from the First World War, this fiduciary document is of undeniable historical and numismatic interest. It represents a direct testimony of the local monetary adaptations put in place in response to the economic constraints generated by the conflict. Chamber of commerce notes from this era are today sought after by collectors specialising in French emergency currency, notably for the diversity of regional issues they illustrate and for their documentary value as witnesses to the economic and social history of France in wartime.