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50 Centimes
| Issuer | Régence de Tunis |
|---|---|
| Year | 1918 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Green and white note with a central text panel bearing the denomination CINQUANTE CENTIMES in bold letterpress within a black-bordered cartouche, with bilingual Arabic and French legends above and below. The date is given as 4 Novembre 1918 / 29 Moharrem 1337 in both languages, flanked by the series number at left and the note number at right. Two manuscript signatures appear below, attributed to the Trésorier Général de Tunisie and the Directeur Général des Finances, with a circular stamp at centre; the borders are composed of intricate guilloche ornamental frames with the numeral 50 repeated in the corners. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Official stamp |
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| Comments |
The Régence de Tunis finance directorate issued small-denomination emergency notes during the First World War largely because the hoarding of metal coinage had stripped everyday transactions of any usable small change — a problem that afflicted French-administered territories as badly as the metropole itself. This particular 50 centimes note was produced jointly by two printers, Weber handling lithography and engraving while Yvorra Barlier managed the actual impression, an arrangement that speaks to the piecemeal way wartime printing contracts were assembled.
The sole security measure was an official stamp applied post-printing — a thin barrier against forgery, but adequate for a denomination too low to attract serious criminal effort.