Catalog
10 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1895-1944) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Portrait of an African woman in profile facing left at right, wearing a beaded necklace, hoop earrings, and a traditional head wrap, rendered in intaglio against an orange-tinted underprint with a palm tree vignette. At left, the numeral 10 is set within an ornate guilloche rosette. The bank title and date appear at top centre, with two facsimile signatures below, captioned LE SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL and LE CONTRÔLEUR GÉNÉRAL. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE DIX FRANCS 2.1.1943 LE SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL LE CONTRÔLEUR GÉNÉRAL M. COCHARD CH. HERVÉ SC. |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale operated under Vichy authority until French West Africa rallied to the Free French in late 1942. Notes produced under "Algerian printing" in 1943 reflect that political rupture — Algiers had become the administrative hub of Free French Africa, and local wartime printing replaced the pre-war Paris-produced plates that could no longer be reliably sourced or shipped.
Wartime production conditions mean paper quality and impression consistency vary considerably across the P#29 series. Cochard's design and Hervé's engraving work were retained from earlier iterations, but the printing execution is noticeably cruder than the pre-war French metropolitan output.