Counterstamped Rupee Victoria

Obock was a French-administered coaling station on the Gulf of Tadjoura, acquired in 1862 but largely ignored until the 1880s when Léonce Lagarde pushed to develop it as a colonial foothold against British Aden. With no dedicated coinage infrastructure, French authorities sanctioned the counterstamping of circulating Indian rupees — coins already trusted throughout the Red Sea trade network — rather than striking purpose-made issues. The counterstamp was the administration, not the coin.

Obock was superseded by Djibouti after 1888 and formally dissolved into the new Territory of the Afars and Issas, making the window for these counterstamps narrow.