Catalog
5 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Franc (1895-1944) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE 5 CINQ FRANCS LE SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL LE CONTRÔLEUR GÉNÉRAL E. A. WRIGHT BANK NOTE CO., PHILA. |
| 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 | P#28a(1) - with serial # single Block letter wide open "V" in signature at left; wide "K" in signature at right P#28a(2) - with serial # double Block letter wide open "V" in signature at left; wide "K" in signature at right P#28b - with serial # double Block letter narrow "V" in signature left; narrow "K" in signature at right P#28c - without serial # P#28s1 - specimen, as a P#28s2 - specimen, as b |
| Comments |
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale's wartime dollar-zone printing run is one of the more unusual detours in French colonial currency history. With metropolitan France under German occupation and European printing houses inaccessible, the BAO contracted American firms to produce notes for French West Africa — an arrangement that would have been unthinkable a few years earlier. E. A. Wright of Philadelphia was better known for engraved stationery and bonds than for colonial banknote work, and their involvement here reflects genuine scarcity of alternatives rather than any preference.
The Philadelphia-printed BAO notes circulated under Vichy authority but were produced in a country openly hostile to the Axis — an awkward political reality that nobody advertised.