1 Franc

When France fell in June 1940, French Oceania — uniquely among France's Pacific territories — declared almost immediately for de Gaulle's Free French movement, making it one of the earliest colonial administrations to do so. The practical consequence was economic isolation: supply lines to metropolitan France severed, no access to Banque de l'Indochine stocks, and an urgent need for local currency. These emergency notes were printed by a commercial printshop in Papeete, which accounts for their distinctly modest production quality relative to any pre-war colonial issue.

Ferrand's press was not a security printer by any professional standard, and the notes reflect that — thin design vocabulary, limited anti-counterfeiting infrastructure. The designer Reboul-Salze worked within tight constraints of available materials and skills on the island.