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100 Dollars / 100 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1899 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Piastre (1880-1952) |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette presents a standing figure of Vasco da Gama at left and a Polynesian man holding a paddle at right, with sailing ships rendered at lower centre. The composition is executed in an elaborate intaglio style characteristic of late 19th-century French colonial banknote engraving. Bank name and bilingual denomination inscriptions appear in the surrounding border alongside the engravers' credits. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | 銀壹百元見字交銀 奉本國特諭東方滙理銀行 壹百元 百壹元 |
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| Comments |
Banque de l'Indo-Chine was a private colonial bank incorporated in Paris in 1875, granted the right of note issue across French Indochina, New Caledonia, and French Polynesia. The dual denomination — Dollars and Piastres — reflects the monetary reality of the region at the time: the Mexican silver dollar and its piastre equivalent circulated alongside each other, and the bank's notes had to function across both systems. The piastre was formally tied to silver, which made these notes vulnerable to the sharp falls in silver prices through the 1890s.
Bramtot was a Prix de Rome winner best known as a painter; his involvement in banknote design was channeled through the Banque de France's supplier network. Robert's engraving work for the series is among the finer colonial intaglio of the period.