50 Centimes

The Gouvernement Général de l'AOF issued these emergency fractional notes in 1917 because the wartime metal shortage had effectively stripped small-denomination coins from circulation across French West Africa. The colonial administration needed a stopgap, and Chaix — better known as a commercial and poster printer than a security printing house — was pressed into service, which goes some way toward explaining the relatively modest execution compared to Banque de France issues of the same period.

P#A1 designates the earliest catalogued note for this issuer. The AOF series was short-lived; metallic coinage returned to circulation as conditions stabilized, and most of these notes were withdrawn and destroyed rather than retained.