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!
500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1941 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 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 | Lilac-brown and olive underprint. A standing woman is positioned at left within an intaglio vignette, with ships at top center. A red oval overprint reading NOUVELLES HÉBRIDES FRANCE LIBRE, incorporating palm trees and the Cross of Lorraine, is applied to the New Caledonia P-38 base note. The denomination CINQ CENTS FRANCS appears in the upper lettering panel. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Executed in lilac-brown, olive-green, and blue. A standing native woman occupies the right of the central vignette, with ships rendered at top center in the upper register. The penal code warning article appears in letterpress at the bottom center, flanked by guilloche ornamental borders. |
| 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'Indochine's wartime printing relationship with the Banque de France placed this note in an awkward political position almost immediately after issue. France fell in June 1940, and by 1941 the colonial administration in Indochina was operating under Vichy authority while simultaneously navigating Japanese military occupation — the currency had to function under two overlapping power structures simultaneously.
Fraipont had died in 1910, so the design predates this printing by several decades. The plate work credited to Gaspérini and Dreyfus reflects a common Banque de France practice of assigning engravers to specific faces of an existing design rather than commissioning new work for colonial reissues.