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 Piastres Green
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1942-1945 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| 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 | Central vignette of an ornate laurel and oak wreath encircling the numeral '5' and the denomination inscription 'CINQ PIASTRES' on a decorative panel, set against a fine guilloche underprint in green. The numeral '5' appears in corner cartouches alongside Chinese characters at upper right and Khmer script at left. A legal warning cartouche in French is printed at the lower centre, with signature lines for L'Inspecteur Général and Le Directeur de la Succursale de Saïgon flanking the central vignette. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A finely engraved intaglio vignette of a traditional Vietnamese pavilion set at the water's edge, surrounded by trees under a clouded sky, occupying the full central field of the note. The serial number appears at upper centre, with corner numeral '5' medallions repeated on all four sides. The lower border carries a band of Chinese characters identifying the issuing bank. |
| 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 |
Banque de l'Indochine's wartime printing operation in Hanoi was a direct consequence of the Japanese occupation severing normal supply lines to metropolitan France. The Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, already established as a commercial and government printer in the city, was pressed into currency production under conditions of severe material shortages — visible in the thinner, less consistent paper stock that characterizes notes from this period.
Phạm Ngọc Khuê's involvement as designer is notable: a Vietnamese artist working under French colonial authority, producing currency for a bank effectively operating under Japanese military oversight. The political layering behind a single note's production is rarely this compressed.