10 Nouveaux Francs - Richelieu type 1959

The 10 Nouveaux Francs denomination was itself a product of the 1960 redenomination, in which de Gaulle's government slashed two zeros from the old franc — one ancien franc becoming one centime of the new. The "Richelieu" series had already been designed and engraved under the old system, so the transition required reprinting the face value while retaining the existing plates, a practical compromise that left the underlying design essentially unchanged from its ancien franc origins.

Marliat and Armanelli were among the Banque de France's most accomplished in-house engravers of the postwar period, and the quality of the intaglio on this series reflects that. Serveau's design work here is more restrained than his earlier output for the Banque.