Catalog
6 Livres Tournois
| Issuer | Intendance Générale des Colonies |
|---|---|
| Year | 1772 |
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| Value | 6 Livres tournois |
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| Obverse description | Plain typeset note within a double-ruled rectangular border, with the heading 'Isles de France & de Bourbon' across the top. The central text reads 'Bon pour SIX LIVRES TOURNOIS' followed by 'Valeur reçue en Ordonnance', all in letterpress. The face bears manuscript annotations including a handwritten serial number and date at upper left, along with multiple ink signatures and a large cancellation cross drawn diagonally across the entire surface. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | N° 119220 3 Sept. 1781 |
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| Comments |
The Intendance Générale des Colonies issued this note to address a persistent and embarrassing problem: chronic coin shortage across the French Caribbean, particularly Martinique and Saint-Domingue, where metallic currency drained steadily toward metropolitan France and inter-colony trade left local administrators unable to meet ordinary expenses. Paper was the only practical answer, and not everyone accepted it willingly.
The livres tournois denomination places this firmly in the pre-revolutionary monetary system — the same unit of account swept away by the assignat regime after 1789. Notes from this colonial series are among the earliest surviving paper instruments issued under French colonial administrative authority, and attrition from tropical climate and the upheavals of the revolutionary period has been severe.