Catalog
2 Francs
| Issuer | Régence de Tunis |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Two nude boy figures (putti) stand as caryatids at the left and right margins, flanking the central text panel in an Art Nouveau vignette engraved by J. Friedling. The denomination DEUX FRANCS is inscribed in large letterpress type at the top of the central field, with the Arabic equivalent below, followed by series number, decree date in both French and Hijri calendar, and serial number. Two manuscript signatures appear below the decree text, with an oval warning stamp reading LE CONTREFACTEUR EST PUNI DES TRAVAUX FORCES A PERPETUITE at centre, and a bilingual French-Arabic exchangeability clause at the foot. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse repeats the same two engraved putto caryatid figures at left and right, framing a dense letterpress guilloche background formed entirely by the repeated text DIRECTION GENERALE DES FINANCES. Two arched bands inscribed DIRECTION GÉNÉRALE DES FINANCES in larger type are placed at the upper and lower portions of the central field, while a circular official cancellation stamp is impressed at centre. Corner roundels carry the Arabic numeral denomination, and the header and footer repeat RÉGENCE DE TUNIS and PROTECTORAT FRANÇAIS. |
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| Comments |
The Régence de Tunis small-denomination emergency notes of 1920–1921 were a direct response to the acute coin shortage that plagued the French protectorate during and immediately after the First World War. Metallic currency had been heavily hoarded and exported, and the Direction Générale des Finances stepped in with low-value paper to keep retail commerce moving.
Printing locally at Imprimerie Yvorra & Barlier rather than sending the work to mainland France kept turnaround fast, and Joseph Friedling — handling both design and engraving — was a Tunis-based practitioner, not a metropolitan specialist. The result is a note with a distinctly provincial character compared to contemporaneous French colonial issues done through the Banque de France's official printing apparatus.