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20 Francs B.I.C. overprint
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 180 × 92 mm |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue intaglio over a yellow underprint with red text and black serial numbers, the obverse carries a black B.I.C. overprint at upper right. The central vignette at right presents a forward-facing female bust turned slightly left, crowned with a wreath of oak leaves and wheat ears, rendered in a classically engraved style by Ernest Deloche after Clément Serveau. An oval watermark reserve occupies the left field, flanked by guilloche patterning and the issuing authority's inscriptions. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Native's head. |
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| Comments |
When the Vichy administration was cut off from its usual currency supplies following Japan's consolidation of control over Indochina, the Banque de l'Indo-Chine arranged for the Banque de France to overprint existing French metropolitan stock with "B.I.C." — repurposing notes that had no business circulating in Southeast Asia. The arrangement was a stopgap, driven by wartime logistics rather than monetary planning.
Marguerite Dreyfus, who signed her engraving work as "Rita," was one of the few women active in French intaglio engraving at the time — her presence on the reverse credit is worth noting.