Catalog
0,10 Franc
| Issuer | Government of Madagascar and Dependencies |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1896-1945) |
| 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 | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette adapted from a postage stamp of Madagascar et Dépendances, rendered in dark brown and carmine, showing figures transporting goods on a palanquin through a rice-field landscape with a town visible in the background. A denomination cartouche reading '10 c.' is positioned at the lower centre, framed by guilloche borders in carmine. The legend 'MADAGASCAR ET DÉPENDANCES' runs along the lower panel, with 'R F' and 'POSTES' inscribed across the upper border. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 0,10 |
| 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 |
Madagascar's wartime fractional notes of 1916 were a direct response to the acute small-coin shortage affecting French colonial territories during the First World War. Metallic coinage was being withheld from circulation across the empire as base metals were diverted to the war effort, forcing local administrations to improvise paper substitutes for the lowest denominations.
The "et Dépendances" designation in the issuing authority's name formally included the Comoros archipelago, then administered from Tananarive. These fractional notes circulated alongside similar emergency issues from other French colonial governments, but Madagascar's series is among the scarcer survivors — paper this thin and low-value was rarely preserved.