Catalog
50 Centimes
| Issuer | Gouvernement Général de l'Afrique Occidentale Française - Colonie de la Guinée Française |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely typeset in dark brown on a pale salmon ground within a matching ornate border, the denomination 50 CENTIMES repeated in cartouches at the top and bottom and vertically along both side margins. Below the upper cartouche, the heading EXTRAIT DU DÉCRET DU 11 FÉVRIER 1917 appears in bold capitals, followed by two paragraphs of italic legal text establishing conditions of forced currency and penalties for counterfeiting, and a bold closing statement Ce bon de caisse a cours forcé dans toute la Colonie. The printer's imprint Gorée. — Imp. Gouvt Génal. is set at the lower right, outside the decorative border. |
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| Variants | P#1a - watermark: Bees imprint on back 23 mm long P#1b - watermark: Bees imprint on back 26 mm long P#1c - watermark: laurel leaves P#1d - without watermark |
| Comments |
French Guinea's 1917 emergency fractional notes were a direct consequence of wartime metal shortages that stripped West African colonies of their small change almost overnight. The Gouvernement Général's response was to authorize each colony to produce its own low-denomination paper, which is why nearly identical series appeared simultaneously across French West Africa — Guinea, Dahomey, Mauritania, and others — each distinguished primarily by the colonial name in the header.
The Gorée press, operating out of a small government facility on the island off Dakar, produced utilitarian colonial scrip rather than engraved banknote work. Survival rates are low; the notes were never meant to last.