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100 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de la Guyane |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | E. A. Wright Bank Note Company, Philadelphia, United States (1872-1964) |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Dark green intaglio printing on a light salmon-red guilloche underprint. The central design comprises three interlocking medallions: the flanking two bear the numeral '100' within fine lathe-work rosettes, while the central medallion carries the 'BG' monogram of the Banque de la Guyane enclosed in a circular guilloche frame with ornamental scrollwork. The denomination 'CENT FRANCS' appears in a bold panel below, with the anti-counterfeiting legal warning in small text beneath it and the printer's imprint at the very bottom. |
| Reverse lettering | BANQUE DE LA GUYANE 100 BG 100 CENT FRANCS L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS À PERPÉTUITÉ LE CONTREFACTEUR E. A. WRIGHT BANK NOTE CO., PHILA. (Translation: Bank of Guiana Hundred Francs Article 139 of the Penal Code punishes the counterfeiter with forced labor in perpetuity.) |
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| Comments |
The Banque de la Guyane's wartime production shift to Philadelphia was a direct consequence of the Fall of France in 1940. French Guiana initially aligned with Vichy, then rallied to the Free French in March 1943 — a political reversal that left the territory's currency supply dependent on American printing capacity rather than the usual metropolitan French sources.
E. A. Wright was primarily a commercial engraving and stationery firm, not a specialist security printer. Its involvement here reflects genuine wartime scarcity of alternatives on the Allied side, not a considered procurement decision.