10 NF on 1000 Francs - Richelieu type 1953

The "NF" overprint series was a direct consequence of the 1960 redenomination, in which the Quatrième République's franc was replaced by the nouveau franc at a rate of 100 to 1. Rather than print entirely new notes for every denomination immediately, the Banque de France simply overprinted existing stock — including this Richelieu type — with the converted value. The overprint itself is the note's principal historical interest.

Clément Serveau designed several of the postwar Banque de France series; Marliat and Armanelli divided the intaglio engraving between obverse and reverse, a division of labor typical of Banque de France production in this period. The 1953 base date places this issue within the transitional years before the Fifth Republic's monetary reform made it temporarily redundant.