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100 Francs Porto-Novo
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1924 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1895-1944) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The central vignette, drawn by Bellery-Desfontaines and engraved by the Florian brothers, presents a large baobab tree at right and an elephant at left in an Art Nouveau illustrative style over a pale guilloche underprint. The denomination "CENT FRANCS" is printed in large red letterpress text at centre, with the issuing place "PORTO-NOVO" and a manuscript date below, flanked by two handwritten signatures under the titles "Le Président" and "L'Administrateur-Directeur". Serial numbers with letter prefix appear in the upper and lower margins, and the numeral "100" is repeated in each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is entirely typeset in Arabic script, with the bank name and denomination rendered in decorative calligraphic letterpress arranged in two text columns flanking a central blank panel. An elaborate geometric border of interlocking guilloche patterns frames the entire composition, with ornate corner medallions, and the designer's credit "Georges DUVAL . fecit." is printed in the lower left margin. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale operated as a private commercial bank holding the note-issuing privilege across French West Africa, a colonial arrangement that persisted until well after independence. Porto-Novo, as the capital of Dahomey, required its own place-of-payment designation — the BAO issued regionally customized versions of the same underlying plate, and P#11E is the Dahomey variant of a note whose basic architecture served multiple territories simultaneously.
Bellery-Desfontaines was primarily known as a poster artist and illustrator of the Belle Époque; his involvement in banknote design was unusual for someone of that background. Engraving credit shared between Frédéric and Ernest-Théophile Florian reflects a father-son workshop practice common to Banque de France commissions of the period.