Catalog
5 Francs - Queen Ranavalona III Essai, aluminium
| Issuer | Madagascar |
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| Year | 1883 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Central motif comprising a royal crown flanked symmetrically by two foliate branches, the stems joined at the base by a floral ornament; two additional floral devices appear above the crown, one to each side. The circumferential legend in Latin script reads RANAVALOMANJAKA MPANJAKA NY MADAGASCAR, identifying Queen Ranavalona III as sovereign of Madagascar. The field is plain, with the design rendered in low relief consistent with an essai strike. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
This piece is an essai — a trial strike submitted for official approval rather than circulation — produced as France was tightening its grip on Madagascar ahead of the First Franco-Malagasy War of 1883–85. Ranavalona III had ascended the throne just months earlier, in 1883, and the question of a Malagasy coinage was already entangled in the political struggle over whether the island would retain nominal sovereignty or fall under a French protectorate. It never entered circulation; the war intervened, and a formal colonial coinage would wait.
Aluminium was an unusual choice for an essai of this period, when the metal was still expensive enough to be considered semi-precious in some industrial circles.