Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1917

Remarks:

1 trou, plis de comptage

This 1 franc note was issued in 1917 by the Chambres de Commerce de l'Aveyron, as part of series 3. It is an emergency banknote, a category of fiduciary currency issued locally in response to the shortage of metallic coinage that characterized the First World War period in France.

During this conflict, hoarding and the requisitioning of precious metals led to a significant scarcity of coins in circulation. To address this shortage, many French chambers of commerce were authorized to issue their own low-denomination banknotes, intended to facilitate commercial transactions at the local level. These regional issues now constitute a numismatic category in their own right, bearing witness to the economic adaptations imposed by the wartime context.

The Chambres de Commerce de l'Aveyron, a department located in the Massif Central region, thus took responsibility for issuing denominations designed to meet the daily needs of local populations and traders. The mention of series 3 indicates that this is a third issue series, reflecting the scale and duration of the use of these substitute monetary instruments in this department.

This type of emergency banknote holds particular numismatic interest due to its strong territorial and historical roots. It reflects both the administrative and commercial organization of the era and the economic constraints imposed by the war. The note carries a face value of 1 franc. Regional emergency banknotes from this period are now sought after by collectors specializing in French paper currency from the early 20th century, particularly for the diversity of issuers and series they represent.