1 Franc

Guadeloupe's locally issued franc coinage was authorized because metropolitan French coinage was perpetually undersupplied in the Caribbean colonies — shipping costs and the indifference of Paris to small-denomination colonial circulation left merchants and plantation workers routinely short of workable change. The Chambre de Commerce de la Guadeloupe stepped in as the issuing authority, a private-commercial body rather than a state mint, which is why these pieces carry chamber authority rather than a Monnaie de Paris attribution.

The issue spans nearly two decades precisely because replacements were slow to arrive and the coins stayed in active use far longer than intended.