Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
50 Centimes
| Issuer | Trésor Colonial |
|---|---|
| Year | 1886 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 124 × 80 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Black intaglio engraving on paper, with allegorical vignettes of Agriculture and Commerce at centre, flanked by cherubs at left and right alongside a pillar and cornucopia. The composition is executed in a fine engraved style consistent with late 19th-century colonial treasury notes, with a guilloche-bordered frame enclosing the central design. Issuing authority legends and denomination inscriptions appear above and below the central vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ÎLE DE LA RÉUNION TRÉSOR COLONIAL (Décret du 2 Mai 1879) CINQUANTE CENTIMES Saint Denis, le 21 JUIN 1866 50c. E. MOUCHON INVT & SCULPT (Translation: Island of Reunion Colonial Treasury (Decret May 2, 1879) Fifty Cents Saint Denis, June 21, 1866) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Trésor Colonial operated as a colonial treasury instrument rather than a conventional bank of issue, and these small-denomination notes were designed to address chronic small-change shortages in French overseas territories during the 1880s. Mouchon handling both design and engraving is unusual — he was primarily known as a stamp engraver, responsible among other things for the famous "Mouchon" type French stamps of 1900, and his involvement here reflects how colonial monetary printing sometimes drew on whatever skilled intaglio talent was available rather than dedicated banknote specialists.
The Pick 8 designation places this among the scarcer Trésor Colonial survivals at the centime level.