20 Piastres

The Banque de l'Indo-Chine occupied a peculiar position: a private French commercial bank granted the exclusive right to issue currency across French Indochina, making this note the product of colonial monetary policy rather than any sovereign treasury. The Banque de France handled printing — an arrangement that lent the series a technical quality well above what colonial issues typically received.

Ruffe's engraving work for the Banque de France during this period was among the finest intaglio production in Europe, and that craftsmanship carries over here. The long issue window — nearly a decade — means dated examples span the entirety of World War One, during which shipping disruptions and wartime economics significantly affected note distribution across the colony.