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!
5 Francs
| Issuer | Bank of Algeria - French Administration |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 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 printed in black intaglio on a pale ground, with two large allegorical figures seated at left and right flanking the central text block — a female figure at left and a male figure at right, each rendered in classical style. The bank title BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE and denomination CINQ FRANCS appear in bold letterpress at centre, with the Arabic equivalent خمسة فرنك below, followed by the date 22 AVRIL 1873. A central oval cartouche at lower centre carries a printed anti-counterfeiting warning in French, and the denomination numeral 5 appears in each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse is printed in blue-grey tones and centres on a large guilloche medallion bearing CINQ FRANCS and the Arabic خمسة فرنك, surmounted by a bold lion's head vignette at top centre within an ornate frame of acanthus scrollwork. Two smaller circular portrait vignettes are inset at left and right — a classical female bust to the left and a bearded male head to the right — each set within elaborate lathe-work borders. The numeral 5 appears in each corner, and the printer and engraver credits appear in small text along the lower margin. |
| 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'Algérie was established in 1851 as a colonial note-issuing institution, modeled loosely on the Banque de France but operating under tighter government oversight given the colonial administration's concerns about monetary stability in a territory still only decades into French occupation. By 1873 the bank was the sole legal issuer in Algeria, a monopoly it would hold until 1949.
Imprimerie Gabasson was a Lyon-based printing house — its involvement here rather than one of the Paris firms is worth noting, as colonial currency work of this period was more commonly routed through the capital. Schleider's engraving credit places this firmly in the intaglio tradition of French provincial commercial printing.
Pick 13 is among the scarcer surviving issues of the series, with few examples documented in institutional collections.