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10 Cents
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1923 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 10 Cents (0.10 ICFP) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The note is framed by an ornate engraved border with pilasters at each corner and a decorative architectural pediment at top centre flanked by two confronted dragons. The central field carries the large denomination numeral '10 CENTS' in bold letterpress, with the payability clause below and two facsimile signature lines for 'Un Administrateur' and 'Le Directeur'. Red alphanumeric serial numbers appear twice in the upper and lower margins, with the designer's name 'G. FRAIPONT' inscribed at lower left. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is enclosed within a richly engraved guilloche border composed of interlocking floral and geometric motifs, with the denomination numeral '10' in each lower corner. The central panel carries the decree text in French, with a red Chinese and Vietnamese denomination overprint applied diagonally across the text field. The designer's name and printer's imprint appear at the lower left and right respectively. |
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| Comments |
Banque de l'Indo-Chine issued fractional centimes notes like this one to address a chronic small-change shortage across French Indochina — a problem that had plagued the colony for decades and worsened sharply after World War One disrupted metal supplies. The 10 centimes denomination was essentially emergency fiduciary paper filling the gap left by absent bronze coinage.
Imprimerie Chaix was primarily a commercial and poster printer, best known for its Belle Époque railway and travel lithography. Gustave Fraipont worked extensively in that same advertising tradition, which makes this a genuinely unusual pairing of commercial illustrators with colonial currency production rather than a specialist security printing house.