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100 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1889-1898 |
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| Printer | Banque de France, France |
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| Obverse description | Blue and red on yellow underprint. The central vignette presents two reclining allegorical female figures flanking a central cartouche, with an ox at left and a tiger at right, while ornate elephant columns frame the composition at the far left and right margins. Intricate guilloche work fills the background throughout, with denomination and issuing authority inscriptions arranged in the upper and lower registers. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Blue on yellow underprint. The reverse is dominated by an elaborate guilloche underprint with a large central oval medallion surrounded by fine lathe-work patterns. The name "BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE" is repeated in continuous horizontal bands across the upper and lower portions of the note, while the four corner panels and the left and right margins carry the full text of Article 139 of the French Penal Code warning against counterfeiting. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indo-Chine was established by decree in 1875 with a mandate to issue notes across French Indochina and, initially, the French Indian settlements and Réunion as well. This 100 Francs note was produced by the Banque de France's own printing workshops — an unusual arrangement that gave the colonial issue a technical quality matching metropolitan French paper money of the same period. Bramtot was a Prix de Rome medallist better known for his Salon paintings; his involvement in banknote design was a sideline, but the Banque de France drew on exactly that pool of academic talent.
Wullschleger's engraving is the detail that separates this series from most colonial issues of the decade.