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20 Francs
| Issuer | Banque d'État du Maroc |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920-1926 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a tall minaret tower, engraved in intaglio, framed by ornate arabesque guilloche borders on either side. The denomination "VINGT FRANCS" and "20 FRANCS" appear in bold red letterpress at lower left and right respectively, each accompanied by the legend "PAYABLES A VUE AU PORTEUR". The issuer's name "BANQUE D'ÉTAT DU MAROC" is inscribed at the top, with serial number and prefix positioned at upper corners and lower margins. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Overall design in brown and ochre tones on a dense arabesque floral underprint, with three blank oval vignette spaces arranged across the upper field. Arabic script inscriptions occupy the upper and central portions, with two handwritten signature lines flanking a central printed signature below the oval cartouches. The denomination numeral "20" appears at lower left, with further Arabic text in a panel at lower centre, and an Arabic denomination cartouche at lower right. |
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| Comments |
The Banque d'État du Maroc was established under the terms of the 1906 Act of Algeciras, which handed financial control of Morocco to an international consortium rather than to France alone — a political compromise that produced an unusual issuing authority, nominally multinational but operationally French-dominated. By the time this note entered circulation, the protectorate was firmly under French administration, and the bank functioned in practice as an extension of French colonial monetary infrastructure.
Printed by the Banque de France in Paris, with design by Georges Duval and engraving by Léon Jouenne — both names associated with the French state printing tradition — the note bears the technical quality of metropolitan French currency applied to a colonial context. Jouenne's intaglio work was precise enough that the series was considered resistant to local forgery attempts throughout its issue window.