10 New Francs Overprint on 1000 Francs

When France redenominated its currency in 1960 — dropping two zeros and creating the nouveau franc — the overseas territories administered under the Caisse Centrale required their own transitional solution. Rather than commission entirely new plates, existing 1000 Francs notes were overprinted with the new valuation, a stopgap that was quicker and cheaper than a fresh print run but produced notes that circulated only briefly before purpose-designed replacements arrived.

The overprint series is short-lived by design. Notes from this issue are genuinely harder to find in any grade than the underlying 1000 Francs type, precisely because the window of use was so narrow.