10 Nouveaux Francs / New Francs Overprint on P#51 - 500 Francs

The Institut d'Émission des Départements d'Outre-Mer was established in 1959 to handle currency for France's overseas departments — Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Réunion — following the creation of the Nouveaux Franc at home. Rather than commission entirely new plates, the IEDOM simply overprinted existing 500 Francs stock (Pick 51) with the redenominated value, a pragmatic solution that kept the Banque de France's production costs down while aligning the overseas departments with metropolitan France's 1960 revaluation at 100 old francs to one new.

Clément Serveau's original design, engraved by Beltrand and Hourriez, predates this overprint series by some years — the plates were borrowed rather than purpose-made for the IEDOM.