Catalog
1 Franc
| Issuer | Chambre de Commerce de Djibouti |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
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| Currency | Franc (1883-1949) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | CHAMBRE DE COMMERCE DE DJIBOUTI ARRÊTÉ DU 30 NOVEMBRE 1919 UN FRANC Le Trésorier, Le Président, SÉRIE A. No. 1 Fr. A. DESVAGES IMP Echangeable contre des Billets de la Banque de l'Indo-Chine. (Translation: Chamber of Commerce of Djibouti. Order of 30 November 1919. One franc. The Treasurer, the President. Series A. Exchangeable for Bank of Indo-China banknotes.) |
| Reverse description | Brown letterpress print on cream paper with the same pale orange floral underprint as the obverse. The identical baroque cartouche border with acanthus-leaf scroll ornaments frames a plain central panel bearing the issuer's name in an arc at the top and the large denomination numeral '1 Fr.' in the centre. The reverse carries no serial number, date, or signatures. |
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| Comments |
The Chambre de Commerce de Djibouti issued emergency fractional notes during and after World War One to address a chronic shortage of small coinage — a problem that plagued French Somaliland throughout the colonial period given the territory's near-total dependence on imported specie. The 1919 date places this note in the post-armistice period when the coin shortage had not yet resolved.
Printing at the Imprimerie Alexis Desvages in Addis Ababa is an unusual arrangement — a French colonial chamber of commerce procuring notes from a press operating in the Ethiopian capital, across the border, rather than from a metropolitan French printer.