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3 Francs
| Issuer | Trésor Colonial |
|---|---|
| Year | 1879 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green-tinted bon de caisse on plain paper, framed by an ornamental border with floral and scroll motifs. The upper portion bears the territorial designation ILE DE LA RÉUNION above the issuing authority TRÉSOR COLONIAL and the enabling decree date DÉCRET DU 2 MAI 1879. The central text BON POUR TROIS FRANCS is set in bold letterpress, followed by the place and handwritten date of issue, two manuscript signatures below the printed signature titles Le Délégué du directeur de l'Intérieur and Le Trésorier-Payeur, and the guarantee clause La contre valeur en espèces est déposée au Trésor at the foot. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ILE DE LA RÉUNION Trésor Colonial Décret du 2 Mai 1879 BON POUR TROIS FRANCS Saint-Denis le 4 juin 1884 Le Délégué du directeur de l'Intérieur Le Trésorier-Payeur La contre valeur en espèces est déposée au Trésor |
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| Comments |
The Trésor Colonial issues of 1879 are among the more obscure French colonial fiscal instruments — produced for small-denomination circulation in territories where metallic coinage was chronically short but where full banknote infrastructure had not yet been established. The Trésor Colonial was not a bank; it operated as a colonial treasury mechanism, issuing these notes on state authority rather than through any chartered institution.
Pinning down which specific territory this 3 Francs note served is the key question. Pick 4 places it within a catalogued sequence, but the Trésor Colonial issued across multiple jurisdictions, and surviving examples are genuinely rare.