Catalog
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| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1940 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Brown, lilac and red underprint on a 20 Francs base note (P#12c). A female figure appears at right, with two vertical signatures at left center. Black overprint reads CENT FRANCS and CENT across the upper center and 100 at lower center, revaluing the note to 100 Francs. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Brown intaglio print on the reverse of the underlying 20 Francs note, with a peacock vignette at center left amid foliage. A black overprint reading 100 FR replaces the original 20 FR denomination, and the word ANNULE is stamped diagonally in large red letters twice across the face, indicating a cancelled example. The legal warning text appears in a cartouche at lower right. |
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| Comments |
When Japan severed Indochina's sea links with metropolitan France in 1940, the colony could no longer receive freshly printed currency from Paris. The Banque de l'Indochine's solution was blunt: overprint existing stock of the 100 Francs P#12c with new authorization text rather than wait for supplies that weren't coming. The overprint distinguishes this issue from the base note, though the underlying Deloche-engraved plates remained unchanged.
Marguerite Dreyfus — who signed her work as "Rita" — was one of very few women working as a professional banknote engraver at the Banque de France during this period.