Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1915

Remarks:

1 épinglage, plis et salissures

Date: Juillet 1915

This 1 franc note was issued in 1915 by the Chamber of Commerce of Angers and Maine-et-Loire, in the particular context of the First World War. During this period, the shortage of metallic currency led many French chambers of commerce to issue their own emergency banknotes in order to compensate for the lack of liquidity in circulation. These local issues, although provisional in their design, played an essential role in maintaining commercial exchanges at the regional level.

This banknote belongs to Series J, which allows it to be identified and distinguished within the various issues produced by this same institution. The series letter is an important identification element for collectors and researchers, as it provides information on the order and volume of successive issues produced by the chamber of commerce concerned.

The Chamber of Commerce of Angers and Maine-et-Loire was one of the many French consular institutions that resorted to this type of emergency monetary issue. These local emergency notes, also known as war currencies or substitute fiduciary currencies, generally display the legal details of the issuing body, the face value, as well as graphic elements specific to each institution.

From a numismatic point of view, this banknote represents a tangible testimony of the economic mechanisms put in place in France during the First World War. It reflects the ability of local institutions to adapt to the monetary disruptions caused by the war. The weight of this note is 1 gram, a usual characteristic of low-denomination paper notes of that era. Its face value of 1 franc made it a commonly used denomination in everyday transactions within the Maine-et-Loire department and the Angevin region.