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500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Algérie |
|---|---|
| Year | 1938-1942 |
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| Engraver(s) | Ernest Deloche |
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| Obverse description | Standing female figure holding a torch at right, with a seated male figure at her feet, rendered in intaglio within an elaborate vignette. A female portrait appears in the lower left corner. A black TUNISIE overprint is applied to the face of the note. |
|---|---|
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Algérie was not a central bank in any modern sense — it operated as a private institution under French government concession, its note-issuing privilege repeatedly renewed from its founding in 1851 through the colonial period. This 500 Francs series ran across sixteen years and two world wars, which means notes bearing dates in the early 1940s were circulating in a colony whose metropolitan government had collapsed and been replaced by Vichy. The political authority behind the issuer changed fundamentally mid-series without any visible change to the notes themselves.
Deloche was among the more accomplished intaglio engravers working in France during this period, with credits across multiple colonial and metropolitan issues for the Banque de France stable of printers.