1000 Francs 1940-57

The Banque de l'Indochine issued this 1000 Francs note across an unusually long span — the same plates served the colonial administration through the final years of the French presence, covering the Japanese occupation, the restoration of French authority, and the early years of the First Indochina War. That continuity was less a sign of stability than of institutional inertia; Banque de France printing facilities in Paris remained the designated source even as the political ground in Indochina shifted irreversibly.

Camille Beltrand's engraving work is among the finest produced for French colonial issues of this period. Jonas designed for the Banque de France's colonial programme extensively; this note is one of the more technically accomplished results of that partnership.