Catalog
100 francs Henri IV
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1978 |
| Type | Fantasy banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a bust portrait of Henri IV set within an ornate guilloche cartouche, printed in dark intaglio-style ink against a salmon-pink ground. Two blank rectangular panels flank the portrait at left and right, intended as serial number windows for motion picture use. The lower half carries a vivid orange-red underprint of Parisian architectural facades. The denomination numeral "100" appears at upper right, with the written value "CENT FRANCS" at lower left. The printer's signature "Earl & Hays" is inscribed in script at the right margin. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse closely mirrors the obverse layout, with a central portrait vignette of Henri IV enclosed in a guilloche cartouche, flanked by two blank rectangular panels. An orange-red underprint of Parisian building facades occupies the lower portion of the note. The "FOR MOTION PICTURE USE ONLY" overprint appears prominently in a boxed legend at the bottom centre, reinforcing the prop nature of this piece. |
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| Comments |
The Henri IV 100 francs was designed by Pierrette Lambert and engraved by Henri Renaud and Claude Jumelet, though the series was printed in the United States by Earl & Hays — an unusual arrangement for Banque de France issues, which were almost invariably produced domestically by the Imprimerie de la Banque de France. Outsourcing to an American contractor reflected capacity pressures on the French printing operation during a period of high note demand.
The series ran from 1978 to 1995, making it one of the longer-lived French issues of the postwar period. Early dates are considerably harder to find in high grade than the abundant later printings.