France, 1924, 50 Centimes, Al-Bronze KM 884

[aws22]

France, 1924, 50 Centimes, Al-Bronze KM 884
Weight 2 gm
Diameter 18 mm
Metal Aluminium-Bronze
Mintage 97,036,000 Paris
Obverse: COMMERCE INDUSTRIE, Mercury seated left, caduceus at left, shield on right, date below, open "4" in "1924"
Reverse: CHAMBRES • DE • COMMERCE • DE • FRANCE BON POUR 50 CENTIMES
Nice coin.

Maythem

[Figleaf]

This is a coin of political failure.

During the first world war, one of the rallying cries in France was les Boches payeront - the *%#@ Germans will pay. When the war was over, the French government refused to issue new coins. They theorised that once the war damage was paid, they could continue the old silver coins with the sower. However, it was quite impossible for the Germans to carry their own loss as well as the loss of the allies. Meanwhile, coins became scarce in France and a host of tokens appeared. The most trustworthy of those tokens were issued by the local Chambers of Commerce. There is a nice series of tokens from the Chamber of Commerce of Evreux to collect. Others stuck with only a few values, like 5, 10 and 25 centimes.

As it became clear that at best it would take many years for the Germans to pay what France (and Belgium) demanded, pressure on the French government increased. However, they did not want to admit they were wrong. Instead, they made a concession towards the national chamber of commerce, who could issue coins nationally, provided they would be tokens, not made of precious metal.

Alongside the logo of the national chamber of commerce with symbols for commerce (caduceus) and industry (Mercury), there is the text CHAMBRES • DE • COMMERCE • DE • FRANCE French (national) chambers of commerce. To make absolutely sure nobody would take them for coins, the denomination is preceded by BON POUR (good for): they were a promise of the Chamber of Commerce to exchange their tokens for real silver coins once they could be issued again. The French ridiculed their government by accepting and using them as coins, so they are now catalogued as coins, not as the tokens the French government wanted them to be.

The policy of having the Germans pay is one of the main causes of the rise of nazism in Germany. It caused death and enormous misery, both directly in Germany and indirectly in many other countries. After the second world war, only the Soviets repeated the mistake and even they did not repeat it to the same extent, stealing only what they could get, not demanding the impossible.

Peter

[aws22]

Thank you Peter for the nice description of this coin.

Maythem