Catalog
100 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1946 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE CENT PIASTRES L'ART. 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUE AUTORISÉES PAR LA LOI |
| Reverse description | Three traditional sailing junks with full sails are depicted in a central intaglio vignette, set against a calm bay with mountainous terrain in the background. The denomination is expressed in four scripts arranged around the vignette: Vietnamese (GIẤY BẠC MỘT TRĂM ĐỒNG) at top centre, Khmer numerals at left, Chinese characters at right, and a dollar-sign cartouche bearing $100 at the lower right. The overall design is printed in a single blue tone with fine guilloche borders framing the composition. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indochine's postwar 100 Piastres issue arrived amid genuine monetary chaos. Japan's wartime occupation had flooded Indochina with military scrip and inflated the local currency severely; when French authority was re-established after August 1945, restoring credible paper money was an urgent political as well as financial problem. De La Rue's London production gave the note a technical quality that locally printed alternatives could not have matched under the circumstances.
Pick 79 is sometimes confused with earlier Indochina piastre issues of similar denomination. The 1946 date is the distinguishing factor — no French colonial printer was used for this run.