Catalog
50 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | American Bank Note Company, New York, United States |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A continuous frieze of celestial Apsara dancers in procession, derived from the bas-reliefs of Angkor Wat, occupies the full central field of the note in intaglio green. Multilingual inscriptions appear in the surrounding border, with Chinese characters at left reading the bank name and denomination, Vietnamese text GIAY NAM CHUC DONG VANG at top, and Khmer script at lower right. Corner ornaments with geometric motifs frame the composition. |
| Reverse lettering | GIẤY NĂM CHỤC ĐỒNG VÀNG 伍拾元 東方滙理銀行 |
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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.