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50 Centimes
| Issuer | French West Africa |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Left-facing effigy of Marianne wearing a Phrygian cap adorned with a composite wreath of olive branches, oak leaves, and wheat ears. The portrait is rendered in high relief in the Morlon style, with fine linear detail on the cap and foliage. The encircling legend REPVBLIQUE FRANÇAISE arcs along the upper periphery of the coin in raised Latin letters. The field is smooth and unadorned, allowing the bust to dominate the design. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
French West Africa had no dedicated coinage of its own until 1944, when the Free French administration — still consolidating control over the federation's eight territories — authorized this issue to address a practical shortage of small change that wartime disruption had created. The coins were struck in Pretoria, South Africa, not in France, because metropolitan minting capacity was either occupied or unavailable.
The nickel brass alloy itself reflects wartime constraint — nickel kept deliberately minimal.