Rufisque 1920 5 centimes
This specimen was lot 22979 in Stack's Bowers ANA sale (Anaheim, CA, August 2016), where it sold for $399.50. The catalog description[1] noted, "SENEGAL. Rufisque. 5 Centimes, 1920. PCGS MS-65 Secure Holder. Republic token coinage struck in aluminum. Exquisitely preserved, with no evidence of corrosion in spite of the highly reactive metal it was struck in. Well struck and bright." The economic dislocation following World War One was most severely felt in Germany and Austria but also in France and her colonies as well. A shortage of coin forced local merchants to issue tokens, including this aluminum issue from the Chamber of Commerce of Rufisque (a French corruption of the Portuguese phrase "Rio Fresco"). Rufisque was then an independent town but is now a suburb of the capital, Dakar. The SCWC lists twenty different tokens from the colony of Senegal, all scarce to rare.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: aluminum.
Catalog reference: KM-Tn12; Gad-6.
- Michael, Thomas, and Tracy L. Schmidt, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1901-2000, 47th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2019.
- [1]Ponterio, Richard, The August 2016 Anaheim ANA Auction: Ancient Coins, World Coins & Paper Money, Santa Ana, CA: Stack's Bowers LLC, 2016.
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