Catalog
20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Algérie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1908-1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Rectangular |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central vignette with Mercury seated at left and Hercules at right, flanking the main text panel, with a crescent and star motif at bottom centre. Black overprint reading TUNISIE applied over the original Algerian design. Engraved in intaglio by Albert Bellenger after Cabasson's 1872 design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Allegorical male figure seated at left and female figure at right, with a front-facing classical bust on a pedestal at upper centre, flanked by decorative columns bearing crescent and star emblems. The denomination numeral 20 appears at both sides in large figures. Engraved in intaglio by Pannemaker Fils after Cabasson's 1872 composition. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque de l'Algérie was a private institution operating under French colonial charter, not a state central bank — its notes circulated as legal tender in Algeria from 1851, but the metropolitan Banque de France had no direct authority over its issuance. This 20 Francs type had an extraordinarily long print run, used across three and a half decades and two world wars, which means dating individual examples requires close attention to signature combinations rather than the printed date field.
Bellenger and Pannemaker were both associated with the Parisian intaglio trade. Pannemaker came from a distinguished dynasty of engravers active since the mid-nineteenth century — the family name appears across French colonial and metropolitan note production well into the early twentieth century.