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20 Piastres Pink
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Piastre (1880-1952) |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette shows a fortified Vietnamese citadel gate at right, with a landscape vignette of a fortress on a hill at centre-left, all set against a pink guilloche underprint with the large numeral '20' in ornate cartouche at left. The bank title 'BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE' appears across the top, with the legal warning inscription below in smaller text. Three signature lines for L'Inspecteur Général, Le Directeur de la Succursale de Saigon, and Le Caissier de la Succursale appear in the lower centre. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCES CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIÉ LES BILLETS DE BANQUES AUTORISÉES PAR LA LOI VINGT PIASTRES TRAN-TANLOC DEL & SC. IDEO. HANOI |
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| Comments |
Produced locally in Hanoi after the fall of France severed reliable supply lines from metropolitan printers, this note is one of the clearest examples of the Banque de l'Indochine adapting under duress. The Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient had previously handled commercial and administrative printing work; wartime necessity pushed it into full banknote production, with Trần Tấn Lộc — a Vietnamese designer and engraver — responsible for the work, an unusual arrangement for a colonial currency of this period.
The Japanese occupation of Indochina complicated circulation considerably. French colonial authorities retained nominal financial control until the Japanese coup of March 9, 1945, after which the series effectively collapsed.