5 Piastres

Banque de l'Indochine's 5 Piastres series ran across a politically volatile stretch — from the Depression years through Japanese occupation and into the postwar French reconsolidation effort. The same note circulated under three radically different administrative realities without a design change, which is itself a small bureaucratic curiosity.

Deloche's engraving work for the Banque de France was meticulous even at this denomination, and the plate held up across the extended print run. Laurent had worked on multiple Indochine issues; this was not a one-off commission but part of a sustained relationship between the colonial bank and the Paris printers.

Pick #55 encompasses several distinct signature combinations, and attribution without confirmed signatories can be genuinely tricky.