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100 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1911-1919 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Piastres (100 ICFP) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | At right, an intaglio vignette presents a standing allegorical female figure accompanied by a seated Asian man, rendered in a fine Art Nouveau style typical of Bellery-Desfontaines. To the left, a large dragon coils upward within the guilloche border work, while the large numeral '100' occupies the central field above the denomination 'CENT PIASTRES' in bold letterpress. The upper portion carries the bank title 'BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE' with decree dates, and the lower portion provides spaces for three manuscript signatures above their respective titles. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a dark violet-grey intaglio on plain paper, dominated by a large horizontal dragon vignette at the upper centre set against a scale-pattern guilloche background. Three horizontal bands of Chinese characters in formal kaishu script occupy the upper registers, while the lower section contains two vertical cartouches with additional Chinese text flanking a central decorative lozenge motif. A small French-language legal text panel appears at the lower centre, and designer and engraver credits are printed in the bottom margins. |
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| Comments |
Banque de France printed this series for Banque de l'Indo-Chine under a formal production arrangement — the same relationship that supplied notes for several French colonial territories in the early twentieth century. Bellery-Desfontaines was primarily a poster and decorative arts designer, a slightly unconventional choice for banknote work, and his involvement here places this series at an interesting intersection of Art Nouveau commercial illustration and intaglio currency production.
Ruffe and Gaspérini were both accomplished Banque de France engravers working the plates on opposite sides — an unusual split credit for a colonial issue of this denomination.