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| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE L'article 139 du Code Pénal punit des travaux forcés ceux qui auront contrefait ou falsifié les billets de banques autorisées par la loi. 100 Fr. NOUMÉA CENT FRANCS (Translation: Bank of Indochina Article 139 of the Penal Code punishes by forced labor those who have counterfeited or falsified banknotes authorized by law. 100 Fr. Noumea Hundred Francs) |
| Reverse description | Brown and yellow. Central vignette of the four-faced Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara tower from the Bayon Temple at Angkor, Cambodia, framed by guilloche borders. The denomination and place of issue are printed in the upper and lower panels, with the issuer's name across the top. |
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| Comments |
This note was produced under genuinely unusual circumstances. With French Indochina cut off from metropolitan France after the fall of Paris in 1940, the Banque de l'Indochine could no longer rely on the Imprimerie de la Banque de France for new stock. The Établissement Photographique et Cinématographique des Armées — a military photographic unit, not a commercial security printer — stepped in as the only viable local option, which accounts for the noticeably different print quality compared to earlier issues in the series.
The absence of a date is a direct consequence of wartime expediency rather than any institutional policy. Vichy-controlled Indochina under Admiral Decoux was issuing currency on borrowed infrastructure.