Catalog
0,50 Franc
| Issuer | Government of Madagascar and Dependencies |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
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| Currency | Franc (1896-1945) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a central vignette derived from a colonial-era postage stamp of Madagascar et Dépendances, printed in brown and olive tones, showing a rural harvesting scene with figures working in a field against a town skyline. The stamp vignette is enclosed within a decorative border with the inscription POSTES and the initials R F (République Française) at upper left and right, with the denomination 50 C. displayed in a bold box at lower centre. The overall composition retains the stamp's typographic and pictorial elements, characteristic of emergency small-change notes of the period. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Lasiroa 0,50 |
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| Comments |
Madagascar's wartime small-denomination notes came about because coin shortages during World War One made low-value fractional currency effectively impossible to keep in circulation — metal was needed elsewhere, and the colony's supply chains were badly disrupted. The Government of Madagascar and Dependencies stepped in with paper fractional issues to fill the gap, a stopgap measure repeated across French colonial territories during this period.
The P#31 series is among the scarcer colonial French fractional issues. Small notes of this type were frequently worn to illegibility and discarded rather than redeemed, which accounts for the survival rate.