Issued in 1915, this semi-postal stamp from the French Somali Coast — today the nation of Djibouti — was created by surcharging the existing 10-centime Somali Girl definitive stamp with a Red Cross emblem and a 5-centime surcharge, with the proceeds going to the French Red Cross during World War I. The base stamp is part of the 1915-33 typographed pictorial definitive series featuring three distinctive colonial designs — the Somali Girl, a drummer, and the Djibouti-Addis Ababa Railroad Bridge. The finely engraved portrait of the Somali woman in traditional jewelry and dress, designed by B. Montader and engraved by G. Hourriez, is one of the most appealing colonial pictorials of the early 20th century.

The French Somali Coast occupied a strategically vital position on the Horn of Africa, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea near the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. The port of Djibouti, the colony's capital, served as the eastern terminus of the railway to Addis Ababa — one of the most important trade and communication links in the entire region, connecting landlocked Ethiopia to the sea. During World War I, France issued Red Cross surcharges across virtually all of its colonies simultaneously, generating funds for the war effort while putting the distinctive imagery of each territory in front of collectors worldwide.

Issued in 1915, this semi-postal stamp from the French Somali Coast — today the nation of Djibouti — was created by surcharging the existing 10-centime Somali Girl definitive stamp with a Red Cross emblem and a 5-centime surcharge, with the proceeds going to the French Red Cross during World War I. The base stamp is part of the 1915-33 typographed pictorial definitive series featuring three distinctive colonial designs — the Somali Girl, a drummer, and the Djibouti-Addis Ababa Railroad Bridge. The finely engraved portrait of the Somali woman in traditional jewelry and dress, designed by B. Montader and engraved by G. Hourriez, is one of the most appealing colonial pictorials of the early 20th century.

The French Somali Coast occupied a strategically vital position on the Horn of Africa, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea near the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. The port of Djibouti, the colony's capital, served as the eastern terminus of the railway to Addis Ababa — one of the most important trade and communication links in the entire region, connecting landlocked Ethiopia to the sea. During World War I, France issued Red Cross surcharges across virtually all of its colonies simultaneously, generating funds for the war effort while putting the distinctive imagery of each territory in front of collectors worldwide.