French West Africa's postage stamp emergency currency is one of the stranger episodes in colonial monetary history. A wartime metal shortage had already pushed France to issue stamp-money (monnaie de nécessité) at home, and the same logic was applied in the AOF territories — existing postage stamps were mounted onto stiff cardboard and issued as fractional currency. The Côte d'Ivoire series of 1920 represents a later, regional application of that stopgap, well after the armistice had rendered the original emergency moot.
De La Nézière's engraving work appears on the stamp itself rather than the card mount.
French West Africa's postage stamp emergency currency is one of the stranger episodes in colonial monetary history. A wartime metal shortage had already pushed France to issue stamp-money (monnaie de nécessité) at home, and the same logic was applied in the AOF territories — existing postage stamps were mounted onto stiff cardboard and issued as fractional currency. The Côte d'Ivoire series of 1920 represents a later, regional application of that stopgap, well after the armistice had rendered the original emergency moot.
De La Nézière's engraving work appears on the stamp itself rather than the card mount.