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500 Piastres Gray
| Issuer | Banque de l'Indochine |
|---|---|
| Year | 1945 |
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| Printer | Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient, Hanoi, French Indochina |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a group of laborers in traditional conical hats hauling ropes on an irrigation project, rendered in a fine intaglio style against a guilloche-patterned ground. At left, a pagoda amid stylized trees forms an architectural vignette. The denomination "500" appears in red at upper right alongside the warning legend, with the note title "CINQ CENTS PIASTRES" in bold letterpress across the lower portion. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'INDOCHINE L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PENAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCES CEUX QUI AURONT CONTREFAIT OU FALSIFIE LES BILLETS DE BANQUE AUTORISES PAR LA LOI CINQ CENTS PIASTRES PHAM-NGOC-KHUE I.D.E.O. HANOI |
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| Comments |
Printed in Hanoi during the final months of Japanese occupation, this note was produced under extraordinary duress. The Imprimerie d'Extrême-Orient had been operating under Japanese oversight since the March 1945 coup de force that dismantled French colonial administration outright — meaning these notes were being struck at a moment when the Banque de l'Indochine's own authority in the territory was effectively suspended.
Phạm Ngọc Khuê's involvement as designer marks one of the rare documented instances of a Vietnamese artist credited on an Indochinese colonial issue. The gray colorway distinguishes this from earlier 500 Piastres printings and reflects wartime ink and material constraints rather than any deliberate redesign policy.