Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
25 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale |
|---|---|
| Year | 1920 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 25 Francs |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | The obverse is engraved in a brownish-grey intaglio style, with a central vignette of a tropical African landscape flanked by large trees on the right and a riverside scene with figures and a boat on the left. The denomination 'Vingt-Cinq Francs' is inscribed in large letterpress text across the centre, beneath the issuer's name 'BANQUE DE L'AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE', with the payability clause 'PAYABLES EN ESPÈCES, À VUE, AU PORTEUR' below. A hexagonal blank reserve appears at the lower centre, with serial number panels at top and bottom, and guilloche work borders framing the entire composition. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in a pale olive-grey intaglio, with the entire surface covered in intricate geometric and arabesque ornamental panels in a Moorish style, engraved by Georges Duval. All text is rendered in Arabic script, with the issuer's name across the top, the denomination repeated in the upper left and right panels, and additional inscription panels arranged symmetrically around a central hexagonal reserve. The dense interlaced border patterns reflect the note's intended circulation in French West African territories with significant Muslim populations. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Banque de l'Afrique Occidentale held a monopoly on note issue across French West Africa from its founding in 1901, but the immediate postwar period created genuine shortages of small-denomination paper — this 25 Francs issue belongs to that emergency response, produced as fractional currency demand outpaced supply from the metropolitan treasury.
Pierre Bellery-Desfontaines was a prolific Belle Époque illustrator whose commercial work leaned heavily toward allegory; Georges Duval was among the more technically accomplished intaglio engravers working in Paris at the time. The combination was unusual for a colonial bank note of this denomination. The Florian firm, father-and-son printers based in France, handled relatively small runs for specialized financial clients — their output rarely appears in major auction records, which partly explains the Pick unlisted status.