Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1915

Remarks:

1 épinglage et plis

This 1 franc note was issued by the Chambre de Commerce de Béthune on 4 October 1915, in the midst of the First World War. It belongs to series 121 and is a representative example of emergency currency, or necessity money, which was produced on a large scale in France during this conflict.

The historical context of this issue is directly linked to the economic disruptions caused by the war. Faced with a shortage of metallic currency, French Chambers of Commerce were authorised to issue their own substitute banknotes in order to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation. The Béthune region, located in the Pas-de-Calais, was at the front line of military operations at the time, making these local issues particularly crucial for maintaining commercial trade.

These Chamber of Commerce notes, also known as necessity notes, were produced using typographical means that were often modest compared to those of the Banque de France. They generally featured the name of the issuing body, the face value, the date of issue, and a serial number allowing their identification and control. The series reference, here series 121, bears witness to the significant volume of these issues, made necessary by the exceptional monetary situation of the time.

From a numismatic point of view, these Chamber of Commerce notes are today valuable witnesses to French economic and monetary history during the First World War. They are of particular interest to collectors specialising in notaphily, that is, the collecting of banknotes, especially local and regional issues from this period. The Chambre de Commerce de Béthune was among the many regional bodies that participated in this exceptional monetary effort, whose issues are now catalogued and studied in specialist references.