Catalog
1 Dollar / 1 Piastre - Saigon
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1892-1899 |
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| Designer(s) | Georges Duval and Jean-Baptiste-Daniel Dupuis |
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| Obverse description | Central intaglio vignette by Dupuis and Duval presents an allegorical group in which a crowned female figure representing France, holding a caduceus, is seated at left beside a kneeling Asian woman, set within an elaborate engraved border with dragon-column motifs at either side. The denomination appears in bilingual form — "ONE DOLLAR" and "UNE PIASTRE" — in large letters at centre right, beneath the bank title "BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE" at top. Plate position, series, and branch designation "SAIGON" appear in manuscript-style lettering at upper left, with signature lines for "Un Administrateur" and "Le Directeur" printed below. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | $1 $1 BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE 東 方 滙 理 銀 行 銀 壹 元 正 奉 本 國 特 諭 L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS À PERPÉTUITÉ CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUES AUTORISÉES PAR LA LOI, AINSI QUE CEUX QUI AURONT FAIT USAGE DE CES BILLETS CONTREFAITS OU FALSIFIÉS. 富 $1 $1 DANIEL DUPUIS ET GEORGES DUVAL FEC. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indochine was established by French imperial decree in 1875 with a note-issuing monopoly across French colonial territories in Southeast Asia. This issue, produced by the Banque de France's printing workshops in Paris, reflects a deliberate policy decision to keep plate production under metropolitan control rather than allow any local printing capacity in Saigon — a precaution against counterfeiting in a colony where the French administration never fully trusted the infrastructure it had built.
Dupuis was one of the most decorated medallists of the Paris Mint; his involvement here is the same arrangement used for French metropolitan small-denomination coinage of the period. Léveillé's engraving work is consistent with Banque de France intaglio standards of the 1880s–90s.
The dual denomination — Dollar and Piastre — reflects the note's function across both the Straits dollar zone and the French piastre system simultaneously.