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100 Francs France Libre
| Issuer | Caisse Centrale de la France Libre |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
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| Printer | Bradbury Wilkinson and Company, United Kingdom (1856-1990) |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio on orange underprint. Central vignette of Marianne, a female allegorical portrait, rendered in the artistic style of Edmund Dulac. The overprint GUYANE appears in red at both left and right margins, identifying the note's territorial destination. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Green on yellow-orange underprint. Central vignette composed of a maritime anchor, barrel, bale, and various colonial trade implements arranged as an allegorical composition evoking commerce and industry. |
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| Comments |
The Caisse Centrale de la France Libre was established in London in 1941 specifically to give de Gaulle's movement a credible financial instrument — without it, Free France had no mechanism to fund administration in the territories it controlled. These notes were intended primarily for use in French Equatorial Africa and other rallied colonies, not metropolitan France.
Edmund Dulac was an unusual choice for a wartime currency commission — he was a celebrated book illustrator, best known for gift-edition fairy tales, not a trained banknote engraver. Bradbury Wilkinson executed the plates in London. The pairing produced something visually distinct from anything the Banque de France had issued.
Pick lists this as P#16, part of a short series that would be superseded once the Caisse Centrale de la France d'Outre-Mer took over emission in 1944.