Billet France 1 franc 1915 AU

This 1 franc note was issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Eure-et-Loir on 1 October 1915, in the context of the First World War. This period of conflict had caused a significant shortage of divisional currency in France, prompting many chambers of commerce and local authorities to issue their own emergency notes in order to compensate for the lack of currency in circulation.

French chambers of commerce were authorised to issue these small-denomination notes to meet the daily needs of local commercial exchanges. The department of Eure-et-Loir, whose prefecture is Chartres, was no exception to this widespread practice across the entire national territory during this troubled period.

This note bears the mention « Annulé » (Cancelled), indicating that it was officially withdrawn from circulation and invalidated by the issuing authority. This cancellation was generally materialised by a perforation, an overprint or a stamp applied directly to the note, attesting to its removal from legal tender status. Cancelled notes constitute first-rate historical and documentary testimonies, evidencing the process of withdrawing these emergency issues once the monetary situation returned to normal.

These local fiduciary documents now represent a valuable source of study for historians and numismatists specialising in French emergency currencies of the First World War.

 

 

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