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5000 Francs

Issuer Banque d'État du Maroc
Year 1938-1951
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Printer Banque de France, France
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Reverse description The reverse carries an intaglio vignette of a Moroccan kasbah or fortified palace rising from an arid plain, rendered in warm ochre and brown tones with a pale orb in the upper right. Arabic inscriptions of the bank title and denomination خمسة آلاف فرنك are set in the upper register, with three manuscript signatures and their Arabic titles arranged across the lower centre. A geometric guilloche border encloses the composition, with the numeral 5000 at lower right.
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Variants P#23a - 28.09.1938 & 14.11.1941
P#23b - 09.11.1942
P#23c - 21.12.1945 - 19.04.1951
Comments

Banque de France produced this note for the Moroccan protectorate authority at a moment when French monetary administration of the territory was under genuine strain — the 1938 start date coincides with the period of franc devaluation and tightening exchange controls that complicated colonial currency management across the Maghreb. The series ran through 1951, well past Moroccan nationalist pressure had begun to mount against French financial institutions.

Maillart handled both design and engraving of the face, an unusual consolidation of roles. Deloche's contribution to the obverse engraving suggests the central vignette required a second specialist hand — likely an intaglio portrait, which was routinely farmed to dedicated figure engravers at Banque de France even when a primary engraver held the rest of the plate.