Catalog
50 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de Madagascar et des Comores |
|---|---|
| Year | 1950-1960 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | To the centre-right, an intaglio portrait vignette of a young Malagasy woman wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and a white shawl, set against a fine floral and botanical underprint with guilloche patterning. The denomination "50" appears in large numerals at upper left and upper right, with the bank title across the top and the value "CINQUANTE FRANCS" in bold letterpress at lower centre. Two facsimile signatures appear at the bottom, attributed to the Contrôleur Général at lower left and the Directeur Général at lower right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 50 BANQUE DE MADAGASCAR ET DES COMORES LE CONTREFACTEUR SERA PUNI DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS A PERPÉTUITÉ C. SERVEAU FEC. G. RÉGNIER SC. (Translation: 50 BANK OF MADAGASCAR AND COMORES (ISLANDS) THE COUNTERFEITER WILL BE PUNISHED BY FORCED LABOR IN PERPETUITY) |
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| Comments |
The Banque de Madagascar et des Comores was a colonial institution established in 1950 when the earlier Banque de Madagascar was reorganized to formally incorporate the Comoros Islands into its mandate — a purely administrative reshaping that changed the letterhead more than the banking practice. Clément Serveau designed extensively for French colonial currency throughout the mid-twentieth century, with Banque de France producing the plates to a consistently high intaglio standard. Poilliot and Régnier were both accomplished engravers within that atelier, their division of labor across obverse and reverse being routine for the period.
The series ran across a decade without significant design revision, which occasionally makes precise dating within the 1950–1960 window difficult where manuscript dates are faded or absent.