1 Kirobo

The 1 Kirobo sits within Madagascar's brief window of official coinage under Queen Ranavalona III, the last monarch before French colonial annexation in 1896. Paris-struck issues of this period were authorized by the Merina kingdom as it attempted to modernize state finances under mounting European pressure — a project cut short when France declared a protectorate in 1885 and then absorbed the island entirely a decade later. Surviving pieces in collectible condition are genuinely scarce; most circulated hard in a cash-poor highland economy.