Numismatic tour of the French colonies: French West Africa and Togo

On this edition of our expedition we'll be staying in Africa and visiting French West Africa and Togo. French West Africa represented nine countries and territories. The first coins for these territories were produced in 1944 during World War II (I assume by the allies but I'm not sure) and the last in 1957. Today most of the nations represented in these territories still use a common currency under the name West African States. I own an example of each of the denominations produced. I am also grouping Togo in here. Coins were issued for Togo as a 50 centimes, two different 1 franc, two different 2 francs and a 5 franc. These get expensive and I only have three examples.

If you missed the earlier entries in the series, they are: Equatorial Africa, Madagascar and French Indochina.

Here's the first group of coins:

 

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Second group:

 

And Togo.

 

The pieces from Togo, look interesting. I will look for them at the
ANA in August. Thanks for sharing.

 

What is that creature on the 1961 1 Franc in the second group? Some sort of fish?

I've also noticed that many of those countries all use the same antelope on their coins. What animal is that?

 

The antelope-like creature is a slender-horned gazelle apparently. The thing that looks like a fish is called a Taku. One link I can find says it's a sawfish that is linked with prosperity and another says it's a gold weight. Perhaps someone can settle this.

 

That 1 franc is no normal coin is it? Its an assai. I've always known those to be a prototype of some form?
IDK....enlighten me.

 

Yes, it's an essai, and my understanding agrees with yours that it's some sort of prototype or special edition. However, there is also a circulation coin for this year that seems to be identical so I don't know what the difference is. I know I was excited to see this one for sale since I'd never had an essai before.

 

I googled "What is an Essai coin?" and this is one of the hits that came up.

57243-what-is-an-essai

 

Togo.
10 francs 1957.

 

The Taku figure is indeed a gold weight and I have always loved this coin:

 

I guess in my Togo this would be one of the stars of the show. 1925 2 Franc.

 

I have the Togo 1 Franc, which is the same design as the 2 Franc but half the weight.

Togo, Territories under the mandate of France, 1924

Paris. Aluminium-Bronze, 22mm, 5g (KM 2).

I also have a few West African CFA Francs, taken from circulation in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin 15-20 years ago.

As far as I can work out, Burkina Faso, Benin/Dahomey and Ivory Coast are three of very few countries in the world that have never had any coins issued for circulation with their name on them, or any countermark or other indication that they were for that country. There are non-circulating commemoratives for all of them.

I think the confusion around the 'fish' comes from it being a brass weight (for weighing gold) that's in the shape of a sawfish. So it's both a fish and a weight. There's a tradition in West Africa for making brass weights in the shape of flora, fauna and adinkra symbols https://www.dia.org/art/collection/object/sawfish-gold-weight-106396.

The design of the CFA hasn't changed much (at all) since, although they're proposing a new currency (the Eco) to give West and Central African countries financial independence from France.

5 CFA Francs, 1997

Paris. Aluminium-bronze, 20mm, 3g (KM 2a).

10 CFA Francs, 2002

Paris. Aluminium-bronze, 23.5mm, 4g (KM 10). FAO commemorative issue: two women and a child pumping water. The Food and Agriculture Organization is the part of the United Nations tasked with improving nutrition and food security.

25 CFA Francs, 1997

Paris. Aluminium-bronze, 27mm, 8g (KM 9). FAO commemorative issue: laboratory assistant pouring liquid into a test tube.

50 CFA Francs, 2002

Paris. Copper-nickel, 22mm, 5g (KM 6).

100 CFA Francs, 2004

Paris. Nickel, 26mm, 7g (KM 4).

 

I really like the design of the Togo coins.

 

Haha, the thread you linked to was me asking the same question 15 years ago. There is no real correlation in English for "Essai" - but it's best to think of it as a special striking.

In the 1800's and early 1900's, Essai's were closest to Pattern pieces. There would be 10-20 struck, and they are extraordinarily rare. In the mid-20th century, the mintages increased into the 1000 - 2000 range, and they were sold as collector pieces. They are always better struck, and often have a finish that is better than a usual coin. They aren't exactly rare, but they aren't common, either. Sometimes, they were sold in denomination sets, and sometimes a couple of colonies would be grouped together in a set.

 

Indeed, I always took "essai" to essentially be a term that was a translation of "assay" but these were actually test specimens and not selected at random, generally designated as such in raised lettering on the coin. I have NOT read anywhere that they were destroyed or damaged in testing and were saved.

Not to focus on my gold coin, but it is much scarcer in "normal" currency or circulation variety though still rare as an "essai". The latter released evidently as per custom and not of necessity.

 

I used to actively collect all the 4th Republic French Territory coins. Many of them, St.Pierre&Miquelon, French Somalia, French West Africa, Madagascar, etc had three varieties. Circulation (aluminum primarily in the 1940s, bronzy stuff for some places in the 1950s), regular Essais (mostly cupronickel), and piedfort Essais in aluminum.

The mintages were, as noted above, about 1000ish for the regular essai, and 100ish for the piedfort version. And yes, the essai coins were the same design as the circulation, but minted to a higher standard (and in a different metal and/or thickness) for collectors.

I sold the vast majority of any essais I had and stuck to the ciruculation versions. Kind of miss them sometimes, but oh well.

Sadly I am woefully deficient in my photography of these, and no longer own the essais for the most part (I kept St. Pierre&Miquelon, but that's not in Africa so I will not post the photos here).