Catalog
1 Franc
| Issuer | Government of Madagascar and Dependencies |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse reproduces the design of a Madagascar et Dépendances postal stamp printed in olive-green and brown, enclosed within a decorative border with ornamental corner devices. The central vignette shows a group of figures pulling a cart or riksha, rendered in an engraved style typical of colonial-era stamp printing. A white-on-dark denomination box at the lower left reads '1f.', and the inscriptions 'POSTES' appear at the top with 'R' and 'F' flanking it, and 'MADAGASCAR ET DÉPENDANCES' runs along the bottom margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | Iraimbilanja 1 franc |
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| Comments |
Madagascar's wartime cardboard fractional notes of 1916 were a direct response to acute coin shortages that affected French colonial territories across the Indian Ocean during the First World War. Metal was being redirected toward the war effort, and small-denomination coinage effectively vanished from local circulation. The colonial administration's answer was to print provisional notes on cardboard — an unglamorous but practical stopgap that was never intended to last.
The cardboard substrate makes survivors fragile. These notes deteriorate readily at the corners and along folds, and examples without significant wear are genuinely uncommon.