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100 Francs Dakar
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1924-1926 |
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| Printer | Banque de France, France |
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| Obverse description | Large vignette in red-pink tones with an elephant standing at left and a massive baobab tree at right, flanking a central blank hexagonal cartouche reserved for the serial number area. A rooster vignette appears at the top centre within a circular frame, with the issuer title and denomination in large letterpress script across the upper and central fields. The date and place of issue (Dakar) appear in the lower centre, with two manuscript signatures for the President and the Administrateur-Directeur. Engravers' credits appear in the lower margins. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | بانك دو افريك الغربي مائة فرنك كمبيو بلديه دونتيني فلتشريع فلسلاس أندر أندر فتة بترم عشرينه درهما Georges DUVAL . fecit. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale was a privately held colonial institution — not a state bank — operating under French government concession, which gave its notes a quasi-commercial character unusual among colonial currencies. The Dakar payability designation placed this note firmly within Senegal's commercial infrastructure, where the BAO held a monopoly on note issuance across French West Africa until 1955.
Bellery-Desfontaines was primarily a poster artist and illustrator, best known for Art Nouveau decorative work — an unconventional choice for a banknote commission, and his influence on the obverse design reflects the period's willingness to treat currency as applied art. The Florian brothers, Frédéric and Ernest-Théophile, were among the more accomplished engravers working for the Banque de France during this period and handled much of the intaglio work on French colonial issues of the 1920s.