Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Algérie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943-1944 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse presents a central intaglio vignette of an orientalist pastoral scene with two male figures harvesting or resting amid lush vegetation at left, and a robed Arab figure seated beside a reclining camel at right, rendered in fine engraved detail against a blue-grey underprint. The denomination '500' appears in large numerals at the bottom centre, with the issuer's title 'BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE' and 'CINQ CENTS FRANCS' inscribed at the top, accompanied by the Arabic equivalent below. Two signature cartouches with printed signatory titles are positioned at left and right, and the marginal legend 'TUNISIE' runs vertically along both side borders. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE CINQ CENTS FRANCS ART. 139 _ LE CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS A PERPÉTUITÉ LE CONTREFACTEUR. GEORGES DUVAL - FEC C ROMAGNOL - SC TUNISIE |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque de l'Algérie's wartime 500 Francs series emerged from an unusual administrative moment: Algeria was under Vichy control until November 1942, when Allied landings made it suddenly the provisional seat of French governmental authority. Notes issued across 1943–44 circulated in a territory that was simultaneously a French colony, an active military theater, and the de facto base of the Free French administration under Giraud and later de Gaulle.
Romagnoli's engraving work on this series is among the finer intaglio printing produced for French colonial currency of the period. Duval's design commission predated the occupation entirely, which created the awkward situation of Vichy-era institutional continuity in the artwork.