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1 Franc Red and green
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Constantine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1921 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| In circulation to | Yes |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Letterpress in red with a green underprint carrying a repeated text pattern reading "CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE CONSTANTINE". The central vignette consists of an ornate cartouche with acanthus scroll and laurel branch ornaments enclosing the large denomination text "UN FRANC", all set within a decorative guilloche-style rectangular border of repeating circular motifs. A curved ribbon banner at the base bears the redeemability clause. |
| Reverse lettering | UN FRANC ÉCHANGEABLE CONTRE DES BILLETS DE LA BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE |
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| Comments |
Constantine's Chamber of Commerce resorted to issuing its own fractional notes during and after the First World War because the chronic shortage of small-denomination coinage — driven by wartime hoarding and metal requisitions — left daily commerce in the region effectively paralyzed. The Algiers commercial printing house Jules Carbonel handled a considerable volume of this emergency papier-monnaie for various Algerian chambers during this period, making their imprint one of the more common on North African emergency issues of the 1917–1921 wave.
The 1921 date places this at the tail end of that emergency cycle, by which point metropolitan France had nominally restabilized small change but Algeria lagged noticeably behind.