Banque de l’Algérie Currency & Banknote Values

The Banque de l’Algérie series of Tunisia in the World Currency contains 82 distinct entries.

The Banque de l’Algérie (Bank of Algeria, BDA) was founded by law on 9 August 1851 as an issuing bank headquartered in the capital of Algiers. Its notes replaced the French currency and Ottoman silver and gold coins that then circulated in Algeria. It subsequently opened branches in Oran per decree of 13 August 1853, Constantine per decree of 3 December 1856, Bone per decree of 11 July 1868, as well as Philippeville and Tiemcen, both per decree of 22 April 1875.

After Tunisia became a French protectorate with the signing of the Treaty of Bardo on 12 May 1881, Algerian notes were also used in Tunisia until the Banque de l’Algérie established a branch in the capital city of Tunis on 8 January 1904.

Given the tremendous number of printing dates for most note types, variety letters are not assigned to individual dates as is the standard elsewhere in The Banknote Book. Rather, variety letters are assigned to notes sharing a common attribute (such as signature, security thread, or watermark), and the date range is listed to assist in identification of the variety.

Signature combinations have not been assigned variety numbers as is the standard elsewhere in The Banknote Book because doing so would have resulted in a confusing jumble due to the fact that over time the bank had overlapping issues with notes bearing either two or three signatures, some printed and some handwritten. Instead, samples of each signature have been reproduced in the following tables, sorted chronologically based upon the terms of service in the various offices.

Note variety descriptions list signatories’ names as they appear on the note, from left to right, or top to bottom.