10 Centimes

Ténès is a small Mediterranean port town west of Algiers, and its chambre de commerce — or in this case a local commercial union acting in that capacity — issued emergency fractional notes in 1915 because the outbreak of World War One had caused a near-total disappearance of small coinage from circulation across French Algeria. Bronze and nickel were pulled from commerce almost immediately after mobilization, and municipalities scrambled to fill the gap with whatever authority they could cobble together.

The Union Commerciale de Ténès had no formal banking status. These notes circulated on collective merchant credibility alone, redeemable only locally.