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 Chambre de Commerce d'Angers et de Maine-et-Loire, in the particular context of the First World War. Faced with the shortage of metallic currency caused by the conflict, many French chambers of commerce were authorised to issue necessity notes in order to compensate for the lack of liquidity in circulation. These local issues, although temporary, played an essential role in maintaining commercial exchanges at the regional level.

This note belongs to series H, one of the identified series for this Angevin issue. The notes of the Chambre de Commerce d'Angers et de Maine-et-Loire generally display information relating to the issuing body, the face value, as well as series and validity indications, in accordance with the practices of these wartime issues. The denomination Maine-et-Loire, abbreviated as M.&L. on the note, refers to the French department of which Angers is the prefecture, thus anchoring the issue within a precise administrative territory.

These necessity notes issued by French chambers of commerce during the Great War now constitute a distinct numismatic and notaphilic category, grouped under the term emergency currency or necessity notes. They bear witness to the economic and monetary adaptations imposed by the constraints of war, notably the hoarding of precious metal coins by the population and the withdrawal of metallic currency from circulation by the State.

The face value of 1 franc, corresponding to a common denomination for everyday transactions, made it a monetary instrument intended for practical and immediate use in the Angers region. These local issues remain today precious historical witnesses to the troubled period of the First World War in France.