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 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de la Martinique |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| 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 | 130 × 78 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 | Printed in blue, the obverse carries a tall decorative column vignette set within a foliate border at the left, with tropical foliage surrounding its base. The bank title BANQUE DE LA MARTINIQUE runs across the top in bold letterpress, with CINQ FRANCS beneath it, while a large guilloche numeral 5 forms the central underprint to the right. Serial number prefix, number, and two manuscript signatures for Le Directeur and Le Caissier appear in the lower half. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | BM 5 5 5 5 |
| 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 la Martinique's wartime issues of 1942 are a direct product of the Vichy blockade. After France's defeat in 1940, Martinique fell under the authority of Admiral Robert, who aligned the island with Vichy and imposed strict currency controls. Cut off from metropolitan France and its normal printing supply chains, the bank turned to Imprimerie Bezaudin — a local Fort-de-France commercial printer with no specialized banknote production background — to produce emergency currency.
The improvised manufacturing origin is why paper quality and ink consistency vary considerably across surviving examples of P#16A.