French Indochina
(Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam)
Banque de L'indochine
(Bank of Indochina, Est.1875-1975)
Currency - Piastre
This is an odd note of one piastre issued in (nd)1949. This is one of the very few notes from the French Indochina I have in my collection.
The territory of French Indochina is basically referred to today's four independent countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. France occupying French Indochina commenced first with Vietnam in 1858 and fully occupied the country by 1887. France occupying Cambodia started in 1863 and Laos in 1893. During the Second World War, Japan replaced the French occupier in 1941 and the French returned in 1945 following the end of the war.
Front - The note depicts an image of a woman. I am unable to tell if she is a native of Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia or this related to an actual person when the note was designed, or if it is just an artist impression. In the center is an image of the Minh Mang royal tomb in Hue, Vietnam. Hue was the Imperial royal capital city of Vietnam. All text on the front is printed in French, obviously.
Le Président - Emile Minost
Le Directeur Général Adjoint - Jean Laurent
Watermark - Head of Mercury (Hermes) facing left
Dimensions - 128mm x 81mm
Back - On the back is an image of a young man with a straw hat carrying coconuts with yoke over his shoulder. In the background are four buffaloes, with a child riding on one of them. There are four languages printed on the back with the Chinese starting on the left. The Chinese characters are - 東方滙理銀行, 壹元 (Bank of Indochina, One Yuan), and to the right from top to bottom are Vietnamese, Laotian and Khmer writings in values.
Earlier version of this note was printed with a dot under the Vietnamese alphabet O - 'MÔT' (GIẤY MÔT DÔΝG VÁNG). For this issue, this tiny little dot was removed.
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