Banknote Billet France 2 francs 1915 - 1920

Remarks:

Plis et salissures

The 2 Francs banknote issued by the Chambers of Commerce of Caen and Honfleur belongs to the category of emergency issues produced in France during the period from 1915 to 1920. This type of regional banknote is directly linked to the context of the First World War, during which the shortage of metallic currency forced many French chambers of commerce to issue their own fiduciary instruments in order to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation.

This banknote is referenced under series 0.01, which constitutes a precise identification element allowing it to be distinguished among the various issues produced by these two Norman institutions. The Chambers of Commerce of Caen, the prefecture of Calvados, and of Honfleur, a historic port on the Normandy coast, thus joined their expertise to put into circulation these notes intended to meet local economic needs.

These emergency banknotes issued by chambers of commerce are today full-fledged collectible items, bearing witness to regional economic organisation in times of crisis. Their study falls within both numismatics and local economic history, offering an insight into the monetary substitution mechanisms put in place during the First World War.

The face value of 2 francs corresponds to an intermediate denomination among the various denominations issued by the chambers of commerce of the time, reflecting the daily needs of commercial transactions in this region of Normandy during the period concerned.