Catalog
5 Piastres Violet
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
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| Printer | Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, Hanoi, French Indochina (1939-1945) |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE CINQ PIASTRES L'INSPECTEUR GÉNÉRAL LE DIRECTEUR DE LA SUCCURSALE DE SAIGON L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUES AUTORISÉES PAR LA LOI. PHAM-NGOC-KHUË IDEO. HANOI 伍元 |
| Reverse description | Pink and brown note centred on a vignette of a traditional Vietnamese multi-tiered pavilion set at the water's edge amid trees, enclosed within a rectangular frame with ornamental corner devices each bearing the numeral 5. The Vietnamese title GIẤY NĂM ĐỒNG VÀNG is printed across the top, with a serial number and letter above the central scene, and a row of Chinese characters occupying the lower border. |
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| Comments |
Wartime necessity drove this note's entire production story. With maritime routes severed and communication with metropolitan France effectively broken after 1940, the Banque de l'Indochine was forced to rely entirely on local resources — hence the Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient in Hanoi, a facility originally established for printing government documents, not banknotes. The design credit to Phạm Ngọc Khuê is one of the rare documented instances of a Vietnamese artist receiving attribution on an Indochinese colonial issue.
The Japanese takeover of French administrative functions in March 1945 rendered the entire circulating note stock politically complicated overnight.