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50 Centimes
| Issuer | Trésor Colonial |
|---|---|
| Year | 1884 |
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| Reference(s) | P#5 |
| Obverse description | Black letterpress text on blue-green paper, enclosed within a decorative guilloche border. The denomination CINQUANTE CENTIMES is set in bold uppercase at centre, above the issue date Saint-Denis, le 4 juin 1884, with the issuing authority ÎLE DE LA RÉUNION / TRÉSOR COLONIAL and the enabling decree reference at the top. A circular red hand-stamp of the Trésor Public de la Réunion is applied at left, with additional red cancellation hand-stamps visible at right, and two manuscript signatures appear beneath the title lines of Le Délégué du Directeur de l'Intérieur and Le Trésorier-Payeur. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ÎLE DE LA RÉUNION TRÉSOR COLONIAL (Décret du 2 mai 1879.) CINQUANTE CENTIMES 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 was the issuing authority for French colonial territories before individual colonial banks absorbed that function piecemeal across West and Central Africa. This 50 Centimes note from 1884 belongs to a transitional period when metropolitan France was still issuing fractional paper directly to its overseas possessions — a practice driven more by chronic coin shortages in distant territories than by any coherent monetary policy.
Small-denomination colonial paper of this vintage is genuinely uncommon. Fractional notes circulated hard, were often damaged by tropical humidity, and were rarely saved.