Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
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!
5 Baht / 5 Ticals Banque de l'Indo-Chine, Non-overprinted specimen
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Bahts |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Green intaglio print on white paper with an ornate guilloche border incorporating East Asian architectural and dragon motifs at the corners. The left half bears a large allegorical vignette in the classical French engraving tradition: a crowned female figure holding a caduceus is seated beside a kneeling Asian woman, rendered in fine line engraving by Léveillé after Dupuis and Duval. The denomination numeral "5" appears at upper left, with bilingual text in English and French — "FIVE TICALS / CINQ TICAUX" — occupying the right half alongside spaces for administrator and director signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Green intaglio and letterpress print on white paper, entirely without a central pictorial vignette but filled instead with large Chinese characters arranged in a grid across the centre field, conveying the bank name and denomination in Chinese. A boldly engraved dragon in the classic East Asian style spans the upper register, and a second decorative motif — a stylised pagoda or lantern — anchors the lower register, both set against a dense guilloche and fret-pattern underprint. The French anti-counterfeiting penalty clause appears in two columns flanking the Chinese text, and "$1" denomination indicators are printed at all four corners. |
| 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 Banque de l'Indo-Chine held a unique position as a private colonial bank with the authority to issue notes across multiple currencies — this 5 Baht / 5 Ticals denomination reflects the awkward monetary reality of Siam's proximity to French Indochina, where the bank operated branches and the tical was the accepted unit of account alongside the piastre. The dual denomination suggests it was intended for border trade or cross-territory transactions rather than purely domestic Siamese use.
Léveillé's engraving work for the Banque de l'Indo-Chine series is among the finest intaglio output associated with French colonial paper money of the period. Dupuis, better known as a medallist, contributed figure designs that were subsequently adapted across several related issues.