Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1921

Remarks:

Plis et salissures

Date: 17-11-1921

This banknote with a face value of 1 franc was issued in 1921 by the Chambre de Commerce de Moulins et Lapalisse, an institution representing two towns in the Allier department, located in the Auvergne region. It belongs to Series 2 of this issue.

This type of banknote is part of the context of emergency issues that proliferated in France during and after the First World War. Faced with a shortage of metallic currency, local chambers of commerce were authorised to issue their own emergency notes and vouchers to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation. These local issues now constitute a particularly well-documented category of early 20th-century French numismatics.

Banknotes issued by chambers of commerce of that era generally feature graphic characteristics specific to each issuing institution, with explicit mentions of the face value, the issuing body, the year of issue and the series number. The mention of the Chambre de Commerce de Moulins et Lapalisse precisely identifies the local authority responsible for this issue, thereby guaranteeing the value of the note within its jurisdiction.

Series 2 indicates that this is a second series of notes issued within this framework, suggesting that the first issue had been absorbed by the needs of local monetary circulation, thus requiring a new release. These regional emergency notes are today historical witnesses to the economic and monetary difficulties France experienced in the post-war period, and represent highly sought-after collectibles among enthusiasts of French chamber of commerce banknotes.