20 Francs

The 20 Francs of 1948 is one of the few Algerian colonial notes designed by a local artist. Mohamed Salah Khamassi, an Algerian painter trained at the École des Beaux-Arts d'Alger, was commissioned for the design — an unusual choice given that the Banque de France typically relied on its own established engravers for subsidiary currency work.

Printed in Paris for circulation in a territory governed as three French departments rather than a colony, the note entered circulation during a period of severe postwar inflation that rapidly eroded the purchasing power of low-denomination paper. By the early 1950s, the 20-franc note was effectively obsolete for most transactions.