Reunion 1896 50 centimes
This specimen was lot 74472 in Stack's Bowers Collector's Choice sale (Costa Mesa, CA, November 2023), where it sold for $100. The catalog description[1] noted, "REUNION. 50 Centimes, 1896. PCGS AU-58. A wholesome and limitedly circulated example, with strong details and much pleasing appeal." Reunion is an island in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and Mauritius and is a longtime French colony. The population in 1921 was about 173,000. Several volcanos are still active there. The main export, formerly sugar, is vanilla. This coin accompanied a copper-nickel franc. Patterns exist in copper-nickel and bronze and may be more common than the circulation issue.
Recorded mintage: 1,000,000.
Specification: copper-nickel.
Catalog reference: KM-4; Lec-41.
- Gadoury, Victor, and George Cousinié, Monnaies Coloniales Françaises, 1670-1988, 2me Éd., Monaco: Éditions Victor Gadoury, 1988.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1801-1900, 9th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, November 2023 World Collectors Choice Online Auction - Ancient & World Coins, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2023.
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