10 Centimes

Vanves, a commune just southwest of Paris, issued these aluminium necessity tokens during the severe material shortages of World War I, when the French government's suspension of small bronze coinage left municipalities scrambling to facilitate basic commerce. The Comité Municipal d'Approvisionnement — a local provisioning committee established specifically to manage wartime supply distribution — produced scrip of this kind to keep neighborhood transactions functional when official fractional currency had effectively vanished from circulation.

Aluminium was the practical choice: copper and its alloys were requisitioned for the war effort.