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20 Dollars / 20 Piastres
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indo-Chine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1876-1892 |
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| Shape | Rectangular |
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| Obverse description | Tall elephant-column vignettes frame the left and right margins, while the lower centre presents an allegorical group of reclining female figures accompanied by an ox and a tiger. The design, executed in intaglio by Charles Wullschleger after compositions by Bramtot and Duval, is enclosed within ornate guilloche borders. Bilingual legends in French and English identify the issuing branch at Saigon and state the note's payable-to-bearer obligation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | DECRET DU 21 JANVIER 1875 BANQUE DE L'INDO-CHINE SAIGON TWENTY DOLLARS VINGT PIASTRES TO BE PAID ON DEMAND TO BEARER PAYABLES EN ESPECES AU PORTEUR A. BRAMTOT ET G. DUVAL-FEC. CH.WULLSCHLEGER SC. |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Indo-Chine, established by decree in January 1875, received its concession to issue currency across French Indochina just as France was consolidating its hold over Cochinchina and pressing deeper into Tonkin. This note belongs to the bank's earliest issue series — the bilingual denomination pairing of dollars and piastres reflecting the monetary reality of a region where the Mexican silver dollar remained the dominant trade coin throughout the 1870s and beyond.
Bramtot was primarily known as a painter and Prix de Rome winner; his involvement in banknote design was unusual. Wullschleger's engraving for the Banque de l'Indo-Chine series is considered among the finer intaglio work produced for French colonial currency of the period. The plate was printed in France and shipped out for issue — a logistical arrangement that made emergency replacement of damaged stock extremely slow.