50 Centimes

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.