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5 Piastres Violet
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 132 x 76 mm |
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| Obverse description | Violet and pink note centred on a large laurel wreath vignette enclosing the numeral 5 over a fine guilloche underprint, with the denomination CINQ PIASTRES in an oval cartouche below. The issuer's title BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE runs along the upper border, flanked by the numeral 5 at upper left and Chinese characters at upper right, while Khmer and Vietnamese script panels occupy the left margin. Two facsimile signatures appear beneath the central vignette, with a statutory anti-counterfeiting warning in French printed along the lower margin. |
|---|---|
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| 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.