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5 Francs without decrees
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1923 |
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| Currency | Franc (1919-1944) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L`INDO-CHINE PAPEETE (TAHITI), le 2 Janvier 1920. CINQ FRANCS PAYABLES EN MONNAIE LOCALE AU PORTEUR Un Administrateur : L`Admr-Directeur, DANIEL DUPUIS ET GEORGES DUVAL FEC A LEVEILLE SC (Translation: Bank of Indochina Papeete (Tahiti), January 2nd., 1920. Five Francs payable in cash to bearer An administrator , The Director) |
| Reverse description | Printed entirely in red on cream paper, the reverse is divided into upper and lower registers, each occupied by an elaborate oriental dragon vignette rendered within scrolling cloud and wave motifs. The four corners carry large numeral 5 counters set within geometric guilloche frames, and a repeating BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE underprint text fills the lateral margins. The penal code warning against counterfeiting appears twice in mirror-image text blocks flanking the central blank field, with the designers' credit DANIEL DUPUIS ET GEORGES DUVAL FEC inscribed at the foot. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de France printed this series for Indochina under an arrangement that allowed the colonial issuer to draw on metropolitan printing infrastructure — the same workshops responsible for French domestic currency. Dupuis had died in 1900, meaning his contribution was an earlier design adapted for colonial reuse rather than a fresh commission. Léveillé's intaglio work is typically precise, but the interest here is administrative: this type was issued without the decree citations that normally appeared on Indochinese notes, making it the only series in the bank's early output to omit that legal reference entirely.
The absence of decree text was corrected in subsequent printings.