Banknote Billet France 1 franc 1918

Remarks:

Légères traces de manipulation.

This necessity note with a face value of one franc was issued in 1917 by the Chambre de Commerce de Belfort, in the context of the First World War. During this period, the shortage of metallic currency forced many French chambers of commerce to issue emergency banknotes in order to compensate for the lack of coins in circulation.

The Territoire de Belfort, a unique administrative entity resulting from the 1871 agreements, represents the geographical and institutional framework of this issue. The Chambre de Commerce de Belfort, like many of its counterparts across France, thus temporarily assumed a quasi-monetary function by producing these notes intended to facilitate local commercial exchanges.

The presented specimen bears the mention « Annulé » (Cancelled), indicating that it was officially withdrawn from circulation and invalidated by the issuing authority. This annotation, generally applied by perforation, stamp or handwritten overprint, was the standard procedure for neutralising notes withdrawn from monetary circulation. A cancelled note thus bears witness to a complete life cycle, from its issue to its official withdrawal.

These necessity notes issued by chambers of commerce now constitute a documented and catalogued category in early 20th-century French numismatics. They are listed in specialised catalogues, particularly those dedicated to French emergency currency of the 1914-1922 period. The note weighs 1 gram, which corresponds to the usual paper weight used for this type of small-denomination fiduciary document.

The face value of one franc represented at the time a modest but commonly used sum in daily transactions, fully justifying the interest in having notes of this denomination to facilitate commercial exchanges within the Belfort territory.