Catalog
1000 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1944 |
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| Reference(s) | P#14 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE NOUMÉA EMISSION 1944 L'article 139 du Code Pénal punit des travaux forcés ceux qui auront contrefait ou falsifié les billets de banques autorisées par la loi. Mille Francs 1000 NOUVELLES HÉBRIDES LE DIRECTEUR DE LA SUCURSALE. UN FONDÉ DE POUVOIRS. (Translation: Bank of Indochina Noumea 1944 Issue Article 139 of the Penal Code punishes with forced labour those who have counterfeited or falsified banknotes authorised by law. Thousand Francs New Hebrides The Director of the Branch. A Holder of Powers.) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | NOUMÉA 1000 Mille Francs NOUVELLE HÉBRIDES (Translation: Noumea Thousand Francs New Hebrides) |
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| Comments |
Banque de l'Indochine's wartime 1000 Francs series presents a genuinely complicated production history. Following the fall of France in 1940, the bank's note supply became a logistical problem — French printing facilities were unavailable, and the occupied metropole could not be trusted. American Bank Note Company in New York stepped in, printing colonial currency for a territory under Japanese military occupation from March 1945 onward.
The notes reached Indochina too late for normal pre-occupation distribution. Some P#14 examples show evidence of limited or interrupted circulation precisely because the political situation on the ground had already collapsed by the time supplies arrived.