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2 Francs
| Issuer | Gouvernement Général de l'Afrique Équatoriale Française |
|---|---|
| Year | 1917 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Blue and gold on yellow underprint. The design is dominated by an ornate interlaced monogram combining the letters A and F set within an elaborate cartouche at centre, surrounded by rich arabesques and foliate scrollwork in gold and blue. The denomination numeral 2 appears in shield-shaped frames at each corner, while a scrolling ribbon banner carries the issuing authority name across the upper portion, and DEUX FRANCS is lettered across a panel at the base. |
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| Variants | P#3(1) - signature variety 1 P#3(2) - signature variety 2 |
| Comments |
French Equatorial Africa's 1917 emergency fractional notes exist because the First World War severed normal coin supply lines to the colonies almost entirely. Small-denomination coinage simply stopped arriving, and the Gouvernement Général was forced to print paper substitutes for values that had never previously appeared on banknotes. The 2 Francs denomination was one of the more awkward outcomes of that necessity.
Imprimerie Chaix was primarily a commercial and poster printer — the firm behind many of the great Belle Époque railway and travel posters — not a specialist banknote house. Their involvement reflects wartime improvisation rather than any deliberate security-printing decision.