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50 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 50 Piastres (50 ICFP) |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Vignette at right of a Vietnamese woman in conical hat seated among large wicker baskets, rendered in intaglio. At centre, the denomination CINQUANTE PIASTRES appears in bold letterpress, with a circular guilloche underprint bearing the numeral 50 at left. The note is printed in green tones throughout, with the issuer name BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE at top and a red serial number above the central text block. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE L'ART. 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUE AUTORISÉES PAR LA LOI CINQUANTE PIASTRES |
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| Comments |
By 1945, French Indochina's administrative finances were in open crisis. Japan had dismantled French colonial authority in March of that year through Operation Meigo, and the Banque de l'Indochine — nominally still functioning — needed currency that could not be produced anywhere in occupied or liberated France. The American Bank Note Company in New York filled that gap, printing this series for a colonial banking system that had effectively lost control of its own territory.
The ABNC contract placed this note in the same production pipeline as dozens of other wartime exile and colonial issues the company handled during the period. Repatriation of printed stock to Indochina was itself logistically complicated given the Pacific theater.