Catalog
50 Centimes
| Issuer | Gouvernement Général de l'Afrique Occidentale Française (AOF) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917-1919 |
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| Printer | Imprimerie Chaix, Paris, France (1845-1965) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is dominated by a lengthy extract of the decree of 11 February 1917, printed in French in a small letterpress typeface, setting out the legal tender status, circulation restrictions, and penalties for counterfeiting. The denomination "50 CENTIMES" appears in bold at top and bottom, with the text "50 CENTIMES" repeated vertically in the left and right margins. A simple decorative border frames the note, and the printer's imprint appears in the lower right corner. |
| Reverse lettering | 50 CENTIMES / EXTRAIT DU DÉCRET DU 11 FÉVRIER 1917 / Ce bon de caisse a cours forcé dans toute la Colonie. / 50 CENTIMES / Imp. Chaix - Paris |
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| Comments |
The AOF's small-denomination emergency notes of 1917–19 exist because the First World War created a severe coin shortage across French West Africa — metal was needed elsewhere, and the colonial monetary system had no mechanism to absorb the gap. These 50 centimes notes were a stopgap, printed by Chaix in Paris and shipped out to cover transactions that would ordinarily have been handled in bronze.
Chaix was primarily a commercial and poster printer, not a security press. The choice reflects wartime pragmatism over anti-counterfeiting concern.