Next up on our tour of the French colonies, we visit Madagascar. An island off the east coast of Africa, Madagascar was a French colony until 1958. There were not a lot of coins issued for Madagascar, but I like the ones they have. Take a look at my collection below and feel free to share your own. And if you missed part one of our tour, check it out here: French Indochina. The first coin issued for Madagascar according to Krause is unfortunately one I don't have, the 1943 50 centimes. After that I do have all the others up until independence. The 5 francs is one of my favorite coins.
About 15 years ago, I was attempting to get all the coins of all the French Colonies. I decided to focus on Morocco instead, but I was able to collect quite a few. Here's the 50 centimes that you are missing:
Coins from the pre-/early colonial state of Madagascar are also very interesting to study and collect and quite awesome to come across. Madagascar wasn't conquered by the French until the 1880s. There are coins that can be found from around this time period, including some of the pieces mentioned below. These 1831 Louis Philippe I 5 francs pieces were counterstamped with the founding date of foreign legion and handed out to the soldiers who participated in the Madagascar Expedition between 1885-1895. Apparently the integrity of coins didn't matter much to some locals and Europeans who lived in Madagascar at the time, and thus it is common to find cut coins that circulated in the region. I don't know much regarding these counterstamps, but here are two Maria Theresa thalers with counterstamps that originate from Madagascar during the late 19th century.
