Banknote France 10 Francs - City of Dourges - 24-12-1915 - Serial E

Remarks:

épinglages, plis, salissures, taches, perforations, trace d'encre au revers

This 10-franc municipal bond was issued by the commune of Dourges, a locality in the Pas-de-Calais department, on 24 December 1915, in the midst of the First World War. It belongs to series E and stands as a direct testimony to the economic and monetary hardships France endured during this conflict.

During the Great War, many French communes, faced with a shortage of official fiduciary currency, were forced to issue their own local means of payment. These municipal bonds, like this one, were only valid within the territory of the issuing commune and served to offset the lack of circulating liquidity. Dourges, a mining commune in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais basin, produced these bonds to ensure the continuity of local commercial exchanges in a particularly difficult context, as the region was directly affected by military operations.

The face value of 10 francs represented a significant sum at the time, lending this bond a certain importance within the hierarchy of local emergency issues. The year of issue, 1915, places this document in the first phase of the world conflict, a period marked by a profound disorganisation of the French monetary and economic system, particularly in areas close to the front.

This type of municipal bond is today considered a numismatic emergency document, falling within both numismatics and notaphily. It holds major historical interest for collectors specialising in monetary issues of the First World War and in French local financial documents. The precision of the date, series and issuing commune makes it a perfectly identifiable and traceable specimen in specialised catalogues dealing with French wartime issues.