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25 Centimes emergency postage WWI
| Issuer | Trésorerie de la Nouvelle-Calédonie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1923 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1873-1945) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | A dark blue adhesive postal stamp affixed to an octagonal cardboard mount, with a central vignette of a Kanak village rendered in the typographic letterpress style characteristic of French colonial issues of the period. The denomination and issuing authority inscriptions encircle the vignette in the manner of a standard postage stamp layout. The overall composition reflects the emergency monetary use of existing postal material during the postwar period. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | TRESORIER PAYEUR DE LA NOUVELLE CALEDONIE SECRETARIAT GENERAL (Translation: Paying Treasurer of New Caledonia — General Secretariat) |
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| Comments |
New Caledonia's postage stamp emergency currency issues were a direct response to the chronic small-change shortage that plagued French colonial territories during and after the First World War. Metal coinage had largely disappeared from circulation — hoarded, melted, or simply never reaching the islands in sufficient quantity — so the Trésorerie mounted stamps on cardboard backing to produce a functional substitute. Vollet, a French engraver and designer with colonial issue credits across multiple territories, provided the original stamp artwork that these pieces repurpose.
The 1920–1923 date range reflects ongoing reissue rather than a single print run, suggesting the shortage persisted well past the armistice.