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2 Francs
| Issuer | Trésorerie de Nouméa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 114 × 72 mm |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in brown on plain paper and carries a central vignette of an industrial harbour scene, with a crane and vessel at left and a factory complex at right. The bold denomination numeral '2F.' appears at the upper left and upper right corners within a geometric border, with the full title 'TRÉSORERIE DE NOUMÉA' and 'NOUVELLE CALÉDONIE' inscribed above. Below the vignette, two manuscript signatures identify Le Gouverneur at left and Le Trésorier-Payeur at right, flanking a serial number box, with the date 'le 15 juillet 1942' at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BON DE CAISSE ARRÊTÉ DU 9 JUILLET 1942 TRESOR 2F. NOUMÉA L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS À PERPÉTUITÉ CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ CES BONS AINSI QUE CEUX QUI AURONT FAIT USAGE DE CES BONS CONTREFAITS OU FALSIFIÉS (Translation: Cash Voucher / Decree of 9 July 1942 / Treasury / 2 Francs / Noumea / Article 139 of the Penal Code punishes with forced labour in perpetuity those who have counterfeited or falsified these vouchers as well as those who have made use of such counterfeited or falsified vouchers) |
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| Comments |
The Trésorerie de Nouméa issued these emergency fractional notes after New Caledonia's supply lines from metropolitan France were severed by the fall of the Vichy-controlled Pacific shipping routes. The colony had rallied to de Gaulle in September 1940 — one of the first French territories to do so — and by 1942 was operating in near-complete monetary isolation, with no practical mechanism to import printed currency from any friendly power.
These locally produced treasury notes were a stopgap, and a crude one. Paper quality and printing consistency vary considerably across surviving examples, a known characteristic of the series rather than damage.