Catalog
50 Centimes
| Issuer | Gouvernement Général de Madagascar |
|---|---|
| Year | 1916-1919 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Centimes (0.50) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The entire face reproduces a rose-pink adhesive postage stamp of the Navigation and Commerce colonial type, engraved after Mouchon's design. The central vignette presents two allegorical female figures — Commerce seated at left and Navigation standing at right — set against a maritime background, with the denomination numeral '50' in large figures at centre. A bold rectangular cartouche at the base carries the colonial overprint 'MADAGASCAR ET DEPENDANCES'. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | REPVBLIQVE FRANÇAISE COLONIES POSTES 50 MADAGASCAR ET DEPENDANCES MOUCHON |
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| Comments |
The Gouvernement Général de Madagascar issued these emergency fractional notes because the war had drained metropolitan France of small coinage — coins were hoarded, melted, or simply never made it to the colony in sufficient quantities. The notes filled a gap that no one had planned for. Mouchon, best known for designing French postage stamps including the celebrated 1900 "Mouchon type," lent his stamp-design aesthetic directly to this format, which is why the note reads more like an enlarged fiscal stamp than a conventional banknote.
Wartime paper shortages in Madagascar meant print quality varied noticeably across the 1916–1919 run.