1 Franc

The Gouvernement Général de l'AOF resorted to locally printed fractional notes across its constituent territories during the First World War because the metropolitan coin supply had effectively dried up — France was hoarding metal for the war effort, and small-denomination transactions in the colonies had ground to a halt. Côte d'Ivoire's 1 Franc note was one of several territorial issues produced at the government press on Gorée island off Dakar, a facility better suited to administrative printing than banknote production.

The improvised origins show. These notes were never intended as permanent currency, and survival rates are low — not from heavy circulation but from the paper quality the Gorée press worked with.