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100 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1925-1939 |
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| Engraver(s) | Marguerite Dreyfus (Rita) |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette consists of an ornate bronze incense burner on the left, flanked by two decorative columns topped with flame finials, set against an intricate guilloche background with floral and dragon motifs in orange and gold tones. The bank title BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE and denomination CENT PIASTRES appear in bold letterpress at the top and centre, with the clause PAYABLES EN ESPECES AU PORTEUR below. A large blank circular medallion occupies the right portion, with corner panel numerals and signature lines for an administrator and director at lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | DUPLEIX 100 MOT TRAM BAC 壹百元 ១០០ 東方匯理銀行 |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indochine operated as a private commercial bank under French government concession — not a central bank in the strict sense — yet it held sole right of note issue across French Indochina from 1875 onward. That privileged position made its 100 Piastres notes an instrument of colonial economic control as much as a medium of exchange, particularly as the piastre's silver-linked value was repeatedly manipulated through the interwar decades to favor French commercial interests over local ones.
Marguerite Dreyfus, who signed her engraving work as "Rita," was among the very few women employed as intaglio engravers at the Banque de France atelier during this period. The fourteen-year print run across four distinct signature combinations reflects successive administrative changes at the bank's Paris directorate rather than any redesign of the note itself.