Catalog
1000 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE BAO 1000 AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY |
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| Variants | P#32a - issued note P#32p - proof, separate face and back on cards P#32s - specimen |
| Comments |
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale found itself in an extraordinary position after the fall of France in June 1940. As a private, Paris-chartered institution responsible for currency across French West Africa, it had to navigate between Vichy authority and the practical reality that Allied control of the Atlantic made Paris-based printing impossible. The American Bank Note Company contract was a wartime necessity — ABNC had the capacity, the security infrastructure, and crucially, access to the raw materials that European printers no longer reliably had.
The 1942 dating places this note in the period before the Free French consolidated monetary authority in the region following the November 1942 Allied landings in North Africa, which soon shifted political control of the AOF territories.