Catalog
5 Francs Without decrees
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1923 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Green intaglio print on white paper with black text and serial numbers. Central vignette shows an allegorical standing female figure holding a caduceus, gazing downward toward a seated Asian woman at left, rendered in a classical academic style. Trilingual inscriptions appear in French, Arabic, and Amharic, with the denomination numeral flanked by guilloche borders. |
|---|---|
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| Variants | P#4Aa - Issued note P#4As - Perforated: SPECIMEN |
| Comments |
The "Without decrees" designation distinguishes this issue from earlier 5 Francs notes of the same series that bore printed authorization decree dates on the face — a bureaucratic requirement phased out as the colonial bank's legal footing became more settled. Banque de France printed this for the Indochina subsidiary, which was standard practice; the metropolitan printing house handled nearly all BIC paper through this period.
Dupuis's engraved work was well regarded in French numismatic circles — he was also responsible for medal and coin designs for the Third Republic. Léveillé's intaglio work on this note reflects the same technical standards applied to domestic French issues of the same decade.