Catalog
100 Dollars / 100 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1899 |
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| Designer(s) | Designers: Alfred-Henri Bramtot, Georges Duval |
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| Obverse description | At left, a standing vignette of Vasco da Gama in period dress, with a Polynesian man holding a paddle at right; sailing ships appear at the lower centre. The composition is executed in a classical allegorical style, with bilingual text in French and English framing the central design, signed in the plate by the designers and engraver. |
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| Obverse lettering | DECRETS DE 21 JANVIER 1875 ET DU 20 FÉVRIER 1888 BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE SAIGON HUNDRED DOLLARS CENT PIASTRES TO BE PAID ON DEMAND TO BEARER PAYABLES EN ESPÈCES AU PORTEUR A. BRAMTOT & G. DUVAL FEC. J. ROBERT SC. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indo-Chine held a monopoly on note issue across French Indochina from 1875, renewed repeatedly by colonial decree against persistent opposition from local trading interests who wanted a state bank instead. This 100-dollar note — the dollar denomination tracking the regional Mexican peso–based currency common across Southeast Asian trade — was printed by the Banque de France's own printing works in Paris, which the BIC used for its high-value issues.
Bramtot was a Prix de Rome sculptor whose commercial graphic work appeared on several French colonial issues of the period; Robert's engraving on this series is among the finer intaglio work produced for colonial paper at the turn of the century. Surviving examples in any collectible grade are genuinely uncommon — the BIC routinely repatriated and destroyed worn high-denomination notes rather than recirculate them.