Madagascar: coin design analysis

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Reverse of the Madagascar 5 francs coin of 1953.

Madagascar issued its first modern coins in 1948. At this point, Madagascar was still a French possession.

Only two coins were issued in 1948: 1 franc and 2 francs.

Their obverse design featured Marianne, the female allegory of France.

More interestingly, the reverse designs showed three zebu heads, flanked by a coffee sprig and rice stalks.

In 1953 a 5 francs coin was added to the series. It carried the same pictorial design: zebu heads + coffee + rice.

Reverse of the Madagascar 20 francs coin of 1953.

Also in 1953, 10 and 20 francs coins were added to the series. They had a common pictorial reverse design.

It contained some of the same elements from the 1, 2 and 5 francs coins, but in a very different form.

The magnificent design includes zebu horns and coffee plants.

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Reverse of the Madagascar 5 francs coin of 1965.

Madagascar became independent from France in June 1960. In 1965 it began issuing a new coin series.

The reverse of the 1, 2 and 5 francs coins featured a zebu head. It was very different from the zebu heads on the coins of 1948 and 1953. The zebu head was flanked by a coffee sprig and rice stalks. This is what I call "thematic design continuity". The same themes and subjects are often carried over from a previous coin series. It gives the new coins a sense of continuity and even tradition. In turn, the population recognises the themes and so already has a sense of familiarity with them. This is potentially comforting for the public when presented with new coins.

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Reverse of the Madagascar 10 francs of 1953. 

Vanilla plant at right.




Obverse of the Madagascar 10 francs of 1970. 

Vanilla plant.

In 1970 a 10 francs coin was added to the coinage.

The obverse design featured a vanilla plant.

This harks back to the old design of the 10 and 20 francs of 1953.

Those designs included a vanilla plant.

Thematic design continuity again.

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Madagascar, 1, 2, 5 francs, 1965.

In 1965 Madagascar issued 1, 2 and 5 francs coins. These were the first coins of a new series. The obverse designs showed the zebu head flanked by sprigs.

The 1 and 2 franc designs were identical, apart from the denomination. However, the 5 francs coin was dually denominated, and the word ARIARY is included in the exergue. One ariary is equivalent to 5 francs, so the same face value was shown in two different ways. In order to make room  for the word ARIARY, the artist Raymond Joly moved the two sprigs higher up the coin. To fit the sprigs into the reduced space, he showed them with much smaller stalks. However, he left the shapes of the truncated sprigs essentially the same, but he rotated them to fit the angle of their new position on the coin.

So we have three coins with one subject (zebu head + sprigs) but essentially two slightly different designs. One design appears on both the 1 and 2 francs coins, while a variant design appears on the 5 francs coin.

See also:  Double denominations.

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Madagascar, 10 and 20 francs, 1970.

In 1970 Madagascar added 10 and 20 francs coins to the series. These two coins were dually denominated on the reverse. ARIARY ROA Means two ariary, while ARIARY EFATRA means four ariary. ARIARY EFATRA takes up more space than ARIARY ROA, so artist Raymond Joly had to move the sprigs slightly higher up the 20 francs coin. Conversely, he moved the mint and engraver marks downwards on the coin.

Interestingly, this time he did not show the same sprigs at different angles on the two coins. Instead, the sprigs on the 10 francs coin are different from those on the 20 francs coin. Once more we have variant designs of the same essential subjects.

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Common obverse of the 1, 2 and 5 franc coins of 1965.





Obverse designs of the 10 and 20 franc coins of 1970.

A vanilla plant, and a cotton plant.


The new coin series of 1965 had a common obverse showing a poinsettia flower.

Interestingly, the additions of 1970 each had a different obverse design.




Obverse.




Reverse.


Now we had an unusual set. The 5 coins of the series had 3 different obverse designs.

Two reverse designs were identical, but the other three were variants of the two identical designs.

It is more usual that a coin series has a common obverse design but different reverse designs.

An unusual set, then, but all the more interesting because of that.

See also:  Circulation sets with duplicate pictorial designs.

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Madagascar, 10 and 20 ariary, 1978.

In 1978 Madagascar added two new denominations to its coinage.

The 10 and 20 ariary were equivalent to 50 and 100 francs respectively.


The style of the reverse designs was notably different.

At this point the Madagascan government was heading in a communistic direction.

The reverse designs celebrate the country's agricultural workers.

Interestingly, the obverse designs were not pictorial.

The obverses of the old franc coins stated "ISSUING INSTITUTE OF THE MALAGASY REPUBLIC".

These ariary obverses state "DEMOCRATIC MALAGASY REPUBLIC".

"Malagasy" is the Madagascan word for "Madagascan".

These coins clearly belong to a separate coin tier from the franc denominations.

This is marked by their different style.

Another interesting difference is that the denomination appears on both sides.

The obverse shows e.g. "ariary 20", with "ariary" in lower case letters.

Meanwhile, the reverse shows the denomination in words: ARIARY ROAPOLO.

The words on the reverse are additionally in upper case letters.


The franc coins showed the denominations only on the obverse.

The words were in upper case letters.

Also, the word order was different: "10 FRANCS" but "ariary 10".

This suggests that the Madagascan language puts the noun before the number.

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SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE 1990s.

Several significant changes were made to Madagascar's coinage in the 1990s.

1] A new metal colour: copper-plated steel (1991 and 1992).

2] New denominations in 1992: 5 ariary and 50 ariary coins.

3] New coin shapes in 1992: 7-sided, 10-sided and 11-sided coins.

4] A new national motto from 1994 and another from 1999 onward.


5] A new obverse legend for the high denomination coins from 1994 onward:

    REPOBLIKAN'I MADAGASIKARA.


6] A new obverse legend for the low denomination coins from 1996 onward:

    BANKY FOIBEN'I MADAGASIKARA.

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METAL CHANGE OF 1991.



10 francs coin of 1970.




10 francs coin of 1991.

In 1991 a new coin type was issued.

The 10 francs coin was minted in copper-plated steel.

Previously it had been minted in aluminium-bronze.


Mint marks appeared on the obverse and reverse of the old coin.

They did not appear on the new coin.

The zebu head does look better without the nearby marks.

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Madagascar, 5 ariary, 1992.

The 5 ariary coin was issued for the first time in 1992.

Its value was equivalent to 25 francs.


Like the 10 francs coin of 1991, it was made of copper-plated steel.

Its obverse design mirrored that of the 10 and 20 ariary coins.

The obverse also had the same legend as the 10 and 20 ariary coins.

In English it translates as "Democratic Malagasy Republic".


The reverse design featured a rice plant.

The design was new but the theme was not.

Rice plants had already featured on the coins in various forms.

Thematic design continuity again.


The reverse design also included a bead circle and the national motto.

This mirrored the example of the 10 and 20 ariary reverses.

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POLYGONAL COINS.

1992 was a pivotal year for Madagascar's coinage.

Not only was a 5 ariary coin issued for the first time.

Also, the 10 and 20 ariary coins became polygonal instead of round.

The 10 and 20 ariary coins were heptagonal and 10-sided respectively.

And a new 11-sided 50 ariary coin was issued.


So the high denominations were now all polygonal.

Different shapes make coins easier to distinguish from one another.


See also: Polygonal coins have many sides and many facets.

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NEW COIN SHAPES.



Madagascar, 10 ariary, 1992.

In 1992 the 10 ariary coin became heptagonal.

This image shows that the coin's obverse / reverse alignment was: ↑↓ .

World coins that formerly had such an orientation mostly no longer do so.

Madagascar's coins have retained that orientation, against the world trend.


Interestingly, the bead circle on the reverse remained there, despite the heptagonal shapes.

The heptagonal coin would probably have looked better without the beads.

RELATED TOPICS

An Alphabet of Heptagons: Seven-Sided Coins

Beads and dentillations on coins

Heptagonal coins whose designs point downwards

Modern countries whose coins have variable and/or US type alignment

Same design, different shape

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Madagascar, 20 ariary, 1992.

In 1992 the 20 ariary became decagonal (10-sided).

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Madagascar, 50 ariary, 1992.

The 50 ariary coin was first issued in 1992.

The new coin was 11-sided (hendecagonal).


In style, it clearly belonged to the 10 and 20 ariary tier.

However, it lacked the bead circle on the reverse.

It looked better without it, though.


This coin was a product of the Royal Canadian Mint.

The Royal Mint (UK) had produced the 10 and 20 ariary coins.

Perhaps that explains the 50 ariary coin's lack of a bead circle.

The reverse design was similar in style to the 10 and 20 ariary designs.

However, it lacked the romanticised  workers.

This was because Madagascar had moved away from communism by then.

The design concentrated on Madagascar's starkly beautiful natural scenery.

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Madagascar, 20 ariary, 1994.

There was only one coin issue dated 1994.

This was the 20 ariary coin.


It was a new coin type for two reasons.

The obverse carried the new country title.

This was REPOBLIKAN'I MADAGASIKARA.

It translates as "Republic of Madagascar".


Also, the coin was the first to carry the new national motto.

This appeared on the reverse.

The changing national motto became a feature of the coinage.