20 Piastres

Banque de France took on production of the Indochina series in this period — an unusual arrangement, given that the BdF's primary mandate was domestic French currency. The involvement of Bramtot and Duval as designers, with Wullschleger handling the engraving, brought the full weight of metropolitan fine-line intaglio technique to a colonial instrument. Wullschleger's work for the BdF during this period was consistently among the most technically demanding in European banknote engraving.

The Banque de l'Indo-Chine had held its note-issuing privilege since 1875, renewed periodically under terms negotiated with the French state. By 1905 the piastre had already weathered two decades of silver price volatility that repeatedly disrupted its relationship to the franc.