1 Franc

France entered the postwar period with its monetary system in ruins — occupation, liberation, and the provisional government's spending had gutted confidence in the franc. The aluminum 1 Franc issued under the Fourth Republic was a stopgap measure, cheap to produce at a moment when strategic metals were still being rationed and the treasury was effectively insolvent. The design commission went to Pierre Rodier, whose work appeared across several of the new aluminum denominations introduced simultaneously in 1947–1948.

The two-year window of this type reflects how quickly French monetary policy was shifting; by 1950 the franc's ongoing devaluation had rendered the 1 Franc denomination functionally worthless in daily commerce.