Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Centimes Purple
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Constantine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Local banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE CONSTANTINE DÉLIBÉRATION DE 3 NOVEMBRE 1919 50 CENTIMES Le Trésorier Le Président IMP. JOURDAN, ALGER |
| Reverse description | Purple letterpress print over a green guilloche underprint composed of repeating text panels reading 'CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE CONSTANTINE'. The central cartouche, flanked by circular denomination panels each bearing '50', carries the value 'CENTIMES' in large bold letters within a horizontal oval, with the redeemability clause arched above and below. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Constantine's Chamber of Commerce issued this note as an emergency response to the acute small-change shortage that gripped French Algeria after the First World War. Metropolitan France had effectively drained the colonies of coin, and local commercial chambers across Algeria were authorized to fill the gap with their own paper fractional currency — a practical solution that produced a patchwork of competing local issues across the territory in 1919 and 1920.
Imprimerie Adolphe Jourdan was the dominant commercial printer in Algiers throughout this period, handling a significant share of these chambre de commerce emissions. The Constantine series is among the more modestly produced — Jourdan's work here is functional rather than elaborate.