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20 Francs F.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 | Blue intaglio print over yellow underprint with red text and black serial numbers. At upper right, a black antelope head vignette is accompanied by the Cross of Lorraine, the date, and a black 'F.C.' overprint. A female allegorical head in three-quarter profile faces front-left at right, crowned with a wreath of oak leaves and wheat ears; an oval watermark zone occupies the left portion of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | DJIBOUTI 20 FR عشرون فرانكس ሃያ ፍራንክ ፳ فرانكس ۲۰ L`ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PENAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÈS CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUE AUTORISÉE PAR LA LOI. ROQUE FEC. RITA SC. (Translation: Twenty francs. Article 139 of the penal code punishes with forced labor those who have counterfeit or falsified banknotes authorized by law.) |
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| Comments |
When the Japanese occupation severed Indochina's supply lines from France, the Banque de l'Indo-Chine faced an acute shortage of circulating paper. The solution was to overprint existing Banque de France 20 Francs stock with "F.C." — Français de Chine or, depending on the source, a fiscal control mark — repurposing metropolitan French currency for colonial use. The plates by Deloche and the engraving credited to Marguerite Dreyfus, known professionally as "Rita," were Banque de France work pressed into colonial service under wartime necessity, not a purpose-designed colonial issue.
Pick 12 is among the more politically contingent notes of the series — its existence is entirely a product of 1943 logistics, not monetary planning.