50 Centimes

Martinique never operated its own mint. These pieces were struck at Paris for the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique's colonial trading network, part of a broader French policy of issuing distinctive token coinage for individual overseas territories rather than circulating metropolitan French coins directly. The practical effect was a closed monetary loop that kept spending — and profit — tied to company-affiliated commerce.

The 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée destroyed Saint-Pierre entirely, killing roughly 30,000 people and wiping out the island's commercial center. Coins in circulation there that day have never been recovered in any quantity.