For a long time now the Ivory Coast has been classified, in the realm of paper money collecting, as part of the West African States, and truly it is so. And truly it is so. It shares a currency common with many of its neighbors. However, there was an issue of Ivory Coast money, though similar to the issues of other countries, was Ivory Coasts very own, and that is the 1917 issue. At the time the French colonists saw fit to print .5, 1, and 2 Franc banknotes and though they are not pretty notes, they are becoming scarce — and expensive. However, some of these notes in less than VF condition are still affordable on eBay, and so I’ve made it a point to buy them so that I can check another country off of my collection list.

Ivory Coast p1c, 1917 50 Centimes Paper Money

It looks like you people are not taking my advice: in an earlier post I told you that very old Haitian banknotes are sometimes still available in relatively good condition at a very affordable price. I was thinking that this would trigger some sort of response, being that these banknotes are becoming rare on eBay, but I was able to pick up one more for $21.55 USD, which means that I had very little competition in the way of bidding. Well, your loss …

I still strongly recommend collecting these, as they are generally in decent condition and sell for a very reasonable amount considering their age and origin.

Here’s what I got: