Catalog
20 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1905-1907 |
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| Designer(s) | Designers: Alfred-Henri Bramtot, Georges Duval |
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| Obverse description | Tall vertical format with elephant columns flanking the left and right margins, reclining allegorical female figures accompanied by an ox and a tiger at the bottom centre vignette. The face carries extensive intaglio-engraved text with decree references and place of issue, with the denomination stated as VINGT PIASTRES, and the engravers' and designers' credits rendered in small letterpress below the central design. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 貳拾元 東方匯理銀行 銀貳拾元 見字交銀 奉本國特諭 兌銅 |
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| Comments |
Banque de France took on production of the Indochina series in this period — an unusual arrangement, given that the BdF's primary mandate was domestic French currency. The involvement of Bramtot and Duval as designers, with Wullschleger handling the engraving, brought the full weight of metropolitan fine-line intaglio technique to a colonial instrument. Wullschleger's work for the BdF during this period was consistently among the most technically demanding in European banknote engraving.
The Banque de l'Indo-Chine had held its note-issuing privilege since 1875, renewed periodically under terms negotiated with the French state. By 1905 the piastre had already weathered two decades of silver price volatility that repeatedly disrupted its relationship to the franc.