FRANCE - FIRST EMERGENCY ISSUE BOURGES BANKNOTE FROM THE WORLD WAR ONE PERIOD - 50 Centimes denomination - issued by Chambre de Commerce de BOURGES and dated MCMXV, which is 1915 - the banknote is in Very Fine Circulated condition.
This old Emergency issue banknote has seen some fairly light circulation and it is a highly collectible example.
Bourges is a commune in the Cher département in central France.
Catalogue Reference:- Pirot#32-1
Chambre de Commerce De Bourges - Cinquante Centimes denomination Emergency Banknote.
50 Centimes - Size - 82 x 55mm.
This old Emergency banknote is in shades of Green and light Blue with some Orange/Yellow in the background all on White unwatermarked paper. On the face the background consists entirely of the words 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE BOURGES' in small type printed over and over on many lines.
This banknote has a simple but effective design on the face - it has a large picture frame style rectangular border, within this at the top centre is the insignia or the Chambre of Commerce in the form of a Coat of Arms. At the centre of the banknote in Green is the denomination as 'CINQUANTE CENTIMES'. Below this is a small circular Greyish Violet handstamp (sized 9mm) with conjoined letters of the Chambre de Commerce's Monogram. This acted as a security device, as only notes with it were valid, it was hand stamped on the notes at the time of their issue to validate them. At the bottom centre within the frame are the Roman Numerals MCMXV for the date of issue - 1915. INV: (Latin: invenit, French: a inventé) the original artist
DEL: (Latin: delineavit, French: a dessiné), producer of the definitive sketch of the design
SC: (Latin: sculpsit, French: a sculpté), engraver of the plate (or other medium for printing)
FEC: (Latin: fecit, French: a fait), "he made it" - a broader term used when one artist has the role of both INV and DELAt the bottom left in the margin is the name of the banknote’s designer as J TARDY DEL. The printer’s ident. is in tiny letters below the date letters at the centre in the margin, as LITH. Vve TARDY-PIGELET ET FILS - BOURGES. At the bottom right in the margin is the name of the engraver as H. RICHY Sc.
Both the Série and banknote’s Serial Number are in Black in large characters at the bottom on the reverse as follows - B 179150.
Above the Serial, the reverse has a panel of text giving full details of the banknote's issuance and validity as follows - 'Ce billet garanti par un dépôt d'égale somme a la Banque de France est délivré et échangé contre billet de Banque dans les Succursales de La Banque de France du Département du Cher.
Il devra sous Peine de Prescription, y être présenté au remboursement avant le 31 Octobre 1920.
Ce billet ne sera valable que revêtu du Monogramme spécial de la Chambre de Commerce'.
All of this means this means - 'This note is guaranteed by a deposit of an equal sum at the Banque de France, the note is issued and exchanged for valid banknotes in the Branches of the Banque de France in the Department of Cher. It must, under Prescription, be presented there for reimbursement before the 30th October, 1920. This note will only be valid if it has the special monogram handstamp of the Chamber of Commerce applied'.
In addition, the reverse has three Coats of Arms, at the top of the note in an elliptical Armorial which is held by a Putto on the left and right sides – within this design at the top centre is the Coat of Arms of Bourges, at the left is that of Sancerre and at the right is Coat of Arms of the famous Maid of Orleans, Jeanne d'Arc who made a number of visits to Bourges from Autumn 1429 and the early months of 1430 and because of this, she has been much revered in Bourges ever since.
The note has two signatures on the face, at the centre left hand side is that of Le Trésorier de la Chambre de Commerce De Bourges and to the right of this, Le Président de la Chambre de Commerce De Bourges.
This old Emergency issue note has seen some circulation,, there is a strong central vertical fold and a lighter horizontal fold. There are some light creases as well. There is a little surface dirt in particular toward the edges of the banknote on both sides. This banknote also has aa few of the normal pinholes at the left side, these are commonly found on French notes of the period. The note grades to Very Fine and is in highly collectible condition.
Low start of just £1.49 - See my other banknotes mostly at Buy it Now prices and usually with a Make Offer option, all in my eBay shop.
HISTORICAL NOTES:- Billets de Nécessite and other Emergency notes were issued in Europe - predominantly in France, during and after World War One from about 1914 and up to the early 1920's, they were used in towns and regions in place of coins which during wartime became scarce as the metal was needed for industry, their use by and large became redundant by the mid 1920's as the economies began to recover following the privations of Wartime. On most of them there was an issue date with details of the date and time they could be re exchanged for regular currency issued by the Banque de France or other Central Bank.
There are hundreds of different types, they were issued mainly in denominations of 50c, 1 Franc and 2 Francs. They are interesting historic documents. The same issues were often printed on any paper that was to hand, sometimes of poor quality, even lined paper from School exercise books, tissue paper, tracing paper and cardboard were used on occasion.
PINHOLES:- Most French notes of the period inevitably had pinholes because of the quirky way that shops used to deal with banknotes, when a customer paid for an item with notes, a receipt was always given and a copy kept by the retailer to which he stapled or pinned the banknote. The practise had generally died out in France by the 1980's, but it still goes on in some shops in rural areas to this day!!
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