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500 Francs With Decree
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898 |
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| Composition | Paper |
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|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Décrets des 21 Janvier 1875 et du 20 Février 1888 BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE NOUMÉA, le 1ᵉʳ Juillet 1898. CINQ CENTS FRANCS payables en espèces au porteur Le caissier de l'Agence, Le Directeur, Un Administrateur, A. BRAMTOT & G. DUVAL FEC. J. ROBERT SC. (Translation: Decrees of January 21, 1875 and February 20, 1888 Bank of Indo-China Noumea, July 1st., 1898. Five Hundred Francs payable in cash to bearer The Agency Cashier, The Director, an administrator.) |
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| Reverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE L'article 139 du Code Pénal punit des travaux forcés à perpé- tuité ceux qui auront contrefait ou falsifié les Billets de banques autorisées par la loi, ainsi que ceux qui auront fait usage de ces Billets contrefaits ou falsi- fiés, ceux qui les auront in- troduits sur le territoire fran- çais seront punis de la même peine CINQ CENTS FRANCS (Translation: Bank of Indo-China Article 139 of the Penal Code punishes with forced labor for life those who have counterfeited or falsified bank notes authorized by law, as well as those who have made use of these counterfeit or falsified notes; those who have introduced them onto French territory shall be punished with the same penalty. Five Hundred Francs) |
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| Comments |
Bramtot and Duval designed this note for the Banque de France's intaglio workshops, with engraving by Charles-Jules Robert — a combination that places it firmly within the aesthetic tradition of late nineteenth-century French colonial fiduciary printing, where metropolitan prestige was deliberately projected into the monetary instruments of administered territories. The Banque de l'Indo-Chine, chartered in 1875, held exclusive note-issuing rights across French Indochina and, for a period, extended its reach into French India and the Pacific settlements.
The "With Decree" designation distinguishes issues formally authorized under specific ministerial decree — a bureaucratic distinction that mattered to the colonial administration far more than to the merchants and coolies who used these notes in daily commerce.