5 Centimes - Chambre de commerce - Dakar

Dakar's Chamber of Commerce issued these aluminium pieces in 1920 to address a severe small-change shortage that had plagued French West Africa throughout the First World War, when metropolitan France halted token shipments to the colonies. The Chambre de Commerce operated with considerable autonomy in monetary matters — a practical necessity given that official coinage from Paris rarely arrived in sufficient quantities for retail trade at the local level.

The Lecompte references distinguish two die varieties (Lec#3 and Lec#4), differing in minor typographic details — worth separating when cataloging.