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20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1888 |
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| Reference(s) | P#11 |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Décrets des 21 Janvier 1875 et du 20 Février 1888 BANQUE DE L`INDO-CHINE Nouméa, le 13 OCTOBRE 1888. VINGT FRANCS PAYABLE EN ESPÈCES AU PORTEUR Specimen (Translation: Decrees of January 21, 1875 and February 20, 1888 Bank of Indo-China Noumea, October 13th., 1888. Twenty Francs payable in cash to bearer) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | L`ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS A PERPÉTUITÉ CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUES AUTORISÉES PAR LA LOI, AINSI QUE CEUX QUI AURONT FAIT USAGE DE CES BILLETS CONTRE-FAITS OU FALSIFIÉS ; CEUX QUI LES AURONT INTRODUITS SUR LE TERRITOIRE FRANÇAISE SERONT PUNIS DE LA MÊME PEINE. 20 FRANCS BANQUE DE L`INDO-CHINE A-BRAMTOT ET G. DUVAL. FEC CH-WULLSCHLEGER. SC (Translation: Article 139 of the Penal Code punishes with forced labor for life those who have counterfeited or falsified bank notes authorized by law, as well as those who will have made use of these counterfeited or falsified notes; those who will have introduced them onto French territory shall be punished with the same penalty. 20 Francs Bank of Indo-China) |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indo-Chine was chartered in 1875 with exclusive rights to issue currency across French Indochina, and this 1888 note belongs to the earliest years when that monopoly was still being tested against a population with deep preference for Chinese copper cash and Mexican silver pesos. The 20 Francs denomination was awkward in practice — the franc-based system mapped poorly onto local commercial habits, and for much of this period the notes circulated primarily among European merchants and colonial administrators rather than through indigenous trade networks.
Bramtot and Duval were both associated with the French academic tradition, and Wullschleger's engraving work here reflects the high-intaglio conventions of late nineteenth-century French colonial printing. Notes from this issue are genuinely rare; survival rates are low even by the standards of nineteenth-century tropical paper, humidity being the obvious culprit.