Algeria 1949 50 francs
This fifty francs was struck at the Paris mint for the French colony of Algeria. It is accompanied by copper-nickel twenty and hundred francs. France had ruled Algeria since conquering it in the 1840's and many Frenchmen had emigrated there and set up farms, businesses, etc. However, the German occupation of France during World War Two fatally weakened French control and the native Muslim majority began to resist discrimination and oppression. Finally, after an eight year war, president Charles de Gaulle braved the wrath of the French right wing and granted Algeria independence in 1962. This coin strongly resembles the copper-nickel ten francs issued in France 1945-49, and it may be symbolic than the primary design change was the removal of "LIBERTE EGALITE FRATERNITE" from the reverse.
Recorded mintage: 18,000,000.
Specification: copper-nickel.
Catalog reference: KM 92.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
Link to:
- 1949 20 francs
- 1949 100 francs
- 1964 5 centimes
- Coins and currency dated 1949
- return to coins of Algeria