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500 Francs F.C. overprint
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1943 |
| Type | Specimen |
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| Obverse description | Brown, red, and green intaglio print over a yellow underprint, with black serial numbers. The central vignette presents a standing allegorical female figure at left holding a shield and branch, with sailing ships in the upper centre. A plow motif and watermark zone occupy the right portion of the note, while a black antelope head vignette, the date, a Cross of Lorraine, and a black 'F.C.' overprint are applied at upper right. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Brown, green, and red intaglio print over a yellow underprint. A standing topless allegorical female figure occupies the right side, with vignettes of sailing ships arranged at upper and lower centre. Trilingual text in French, Arabic, and Amharic is distributed across the face, with engraver credits at lower right. |
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| Comments |
The "F.C." overprint — standing for "France Continentale" — was applied to distinguish notes intended for metropolitan France from those circulating in the colonies, a administrative partition that reflected the fractured monetary geography of Vichy-era French territories. The Banque de France pressed its own facilities into service for Indochinese currency production after the fall of France severed normal supply chains to Saigon.
Gaspérini's engraving on the obverse is competent professional work from the Banque de France atelier. Dreyfus, who signed her reverse engraving as "Rita," was among the few women working at that level in French intaglio printing at the time.