Banknote Billet France 2 francs 1915

Remarks:

1 épinglage et plis de comptage

This 2 franc note was issued by the Chambre de Commerce de Périgueux on 10 June 1915, bearing the serial number 53262. It is rooted in the particular context of World War I, a period during which the shortage of metallic currency forced many French chambers of commerce to issue their own emergency notes in order to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation.

These local issues, commonly known as emergency currency or necessity notes, were a pragmatic response to the massive hoarding of metallic coins by the population, and to their withdrawal by the State to finance the war effort. The Chambre de Commerce de Périgueux, an institution representing the economic and commercial interests of the Dordogne department, was thus authorised to produce these temporary monetary instruments intended to facilitate local commercial exchanges.

The note bears a face value of 2 francs, making it an intermediate denomination meeting the daily needs of ordinary transactions. Its individual numbering, here 53262, bears witness to the significant volume of notes put into circulation by this body, reflecting the extent of the region's cash requirements during this troubled period.

The year 1915 corresponds to a critical phase of the global conflict, during which these notes played an essential role in maintaining local economic activity. These regional paper currency notes represent today valuable historical and documentary evidence of the economic organisation of France in wartime.