Offered is a trio of SOFIM (Société Françaises des Iles Malgaches) countermarked tokens, being on the 1 & 2 Franc French colonial issues for Madagascar. The firm ran operations and effectively governed Juan de Nova island and Les Glorieuses islands (with both belonging to les "Iles Eparses"), mining guano and phosphates from 1952 till 1968. Notoriously, the treatment of workers was extremely poor, with corporal punishments, emprisonment, etc. being part of day-to-day life - indeed, owing to the secluded nature of the operations, the operation became something of a serfdom / slave economy. From 1953-58, SOFIM established a ‘shop’ economy in which essential goods could only purchased from company stores with these tokens, further locking in workers, who received a not unsubstantial portion of their wages in what was effectively non-convertible specie. It got so bad that an official investigation was launched by the french authorities, eventually triggering the dissolution of the company in 1968.
There exist 2 types of countermark for each series (one on Madagascar colonial issues, and the other on French coins), with Afrasi noting that the P means probably "Phosphats" and the C "Coprah" - likely an attempt to curb any grey or black markets on the Islands. Denominations of 50 Centime through 5 Francs are known, all on aluminium coins - the firm would evenually have to discontinue the system under the pretext of defacing coinage, but as the islands were so isolated, the scheme wasable to run for a half-a-decade before anyone back in Paris in a position to act receieved word of the practice.
The tokens here offered represent both countermark types, with both of the 2 Franc variants present. These examples are slightly above average for the issue, which is invariably found with lower-grade and corroded host coins. A fascinating and dark pair of countermarks.
Offered is a trio of SOFIM (Société Françaises des Iles Malgaches) countermarked tokens, being on the 1 & 2 Franc French colonial issues for Madagascar. The firm ran operations and effectively governed Juan de Nova island and Les Glorieuses islands (with both belonging to les "Iles Eparses"), mining guano and phosphates from 1952 till 1968. Notoriously, the treatment of workers was extremely poor, with corporal punishments, emprisonment, etc. being part of day-to-day life - indeed, owing to the secluded nature of the operations, the operation became something of a serfdom / slave economy. From 1953-58, SOFIM established a ‘shop’ economy in which essential goods could only purchased from company stores with these tokens, further locking in workers, who received a not unsubstantial portion of their wages in what was effectively non-convertible specie. It got so bad that an official investigation was launched by the french authorities, eventually triggering the dissolution of the company in 1968.
There exist 2 types of countermark for each series (one on Madagascar colonial issues, and the other on French coins), with Afrasi noting that the P means probably "Phosphats" and the C "Coprah" - likely an attempt to curb any grey or black markets on the Islands. Denominations of 50 Centime through 5 Francs are known, all on aluminium coins - the firm would evenually have to discontinue the system under the pretext of defacing coinage, but as the islands were so isolated, the scheme wasable to run for a half-a-decade before anyone back in Paris in a position to act receieved word of the practice.
The tokens here offered represent both countermark types, with both of the 2 Franc variants present. These examples are slightly above average for the issue, which is invariably found with lower-grade and corroded host coins. A fascinating and dark pair of countermarks.
