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5 Francs Porto-Novo
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916-1919 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Banque de France, France |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE CINQ FRANCS PAYABLES EN ESPÈCES, A VUE, AU PORTEUR PORTO-NOVO h.Bellery Desfontaines del. Ernest Florian SC. |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-green on a pale ochre underprint and is devoted entirely to Arabic and Ajami script text arranged in two columns within an ornate arabesque border. A large Arabic numeral denomination appears at the foot of the composition, and a decorative floral cartouche centres the lower margin. The designer's signature h. Bellery Desfontaines is inscribed in the lower right margin. |
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| Comments |
Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale emergency fractional notes were authorized in response to the acute metal shortage of the First World War, when silver coinage vanished from circulation across French West Africa just as it did in the metropole. The Porto-Novo payability designation on this type — one of several issues specifying different cities of payment — was a practical administrative constraint, not a banking formality; a note issued at Porto-Novo was not legally redeemable elsewhere, a restriction that created real friction in a colonial economy where traders moved constantly between territories.
Bellery-Desfontaines, primarily an Art Nouveau poster artist and illustrator, was an unconventional choice for a wartime emergency instrument. Florian's engraving work for the Banque de France brought the design into production, but the note's relatively short active window — the series was withdrawn as metallic coinage returned — kept surviving examples from accumulating significant wear.