Catalog
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
| Issuer | Compagnie de la Nouvelle-Calédonie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1874 |
| 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 | 136 × 88 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| 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 | The note is printed in green on a fine guilloche underprint filling the entire field. A circular black official seal of the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-Calédonie is positioned to the right of centre, surrounded by scrollwork vignettes. The promissory text in letterpress occupies the centre, with the denomination VINGT FRANCS in large bold lettering; two signatures appear below, attributed to an administrator and the director, with the numeral 20 repeated in circular cartouches at the lower left and right corners. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | SUCCURSALE DE NOUMÉA A COMPAGNIE DE LA NOUVELLE-CALÉDONIE / BANQUE Il sera payé à vue et au porteur VINGT FRANCS★ NOUMEA, 28 DECEMBRE, 1874 20 20 UN ADMINISTRATEUR LE DIRECTEUR (Translation: Noumea Branch / New Caledonia Company Bank — It will be paid on sight and to bearer Twenty Francs — Noumea, 28 December 1874 — An Administrator — The Director) |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| 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 Compagnie de la Nouvelle-Calédonie was a short-lived colonial trading company granted banking privileges in New Caledonia during the early years of French settlement — a period when the territory was simultaneously being developed as a penal colony and a nickel-mining frontier. Private issue money of this type filled the vacuum left by the absence of any formal colonial bank, which wouldn't arrive until the Banque de la Nouvelle-Calédonie was established years later.
Imprimerie Chaix, a respected Paris commercial printer, produced the plates. The Nouméa branch designation on the note distinguishes it from any metropolitan issue and signals that this denomination circulated specifically within the territorial economy, not in France.
Pick lists only a handful of survivors.