Djibouti 1921 25 centimes
This specimen was lot 1673 in Stephen Album sale 41 (Santa Rosa, CA, September 2021), where it sold for $240. The catalog description[1] noted, "DJIBOUTI: French Colony, 25 centimes, 1921, Chamber of Commerce issue, NGC graded AU58, ex Shawn Hamilton Collection. Struck in 1921 and again in 1942, due to a shortage of small change, all apparently dated 1921." The Republic of Djibouti is the former French Somaliland, acquired in 1839 from provincial sultans, and made into a French colony in 1896. The area received its independence from France in 1977 and remains poor tho without the anarchy experienced by Somalia next door. Many French colonies struck tokens in 1920-21 as the metropolis went thru a financial crisis.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: aluminum, 22.5 mm diameter.
Catalog reference: KM-Tn7, Lec-94a.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Album, Stephen, Joseph Lang, Paul Montz, Michael Barry and Norman Douglas Nicol, Auction 41, featuring the Dick Nanta Collection of Giray Khans, Part II, the Charles Opitz Collection of Ethnographic Money, Part II, and the Allan F. Pacela Collection of Chinese Coins. Santa Rosa, CA: Stephen Album Rare Coins, Inc., 2021.
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