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500 Francs With Decree
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1898 |
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| Designer(s) | Designers: Alfred-Henri Bramtot, Georges Duval |
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| Obverse description | Printed in blue and red, the obverse carries a vignette of Vasco da Gama at left, with a group of sailing ships in the lower centre. At right, a Polynesian man stands aboard a traditional sea-dragon boat, holding a paddle. The plate inscription credits A. Bramtot and G. Duval as designers and J. Robert as engraver. |
|---|---|
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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.