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1000 Francs - Phénix type 1943

Issuer Trésor Central (French Treasury)
Year 1943
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Shape Rectangular
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Obverse lettering REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE TRESOR CENTRAL 1000 | 1000 MILLE FRANCS EDMUND DULAC FEC
Reverse description Allegorical vignette in two contrasting scenes: at left, a blasted tree bereft of foliage, the ruins of a house, and the wreckage of a wagon symbolise destruction and war; at right, the same tree is shown restored with new growth, the house rebuilt, and the wagon repaired, representing renewal and reconstruction. The denomination '1000' appears at lower right, with the full penal warning legend running across the lower portion of the note.
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Comments

Dulac's involvement here is worth pausing on — the Anglo-French illustrator best known for his Art Nouveau book plates was commissioned by the Free French authorities in London to design emergency treasury notes for a France still under occupation. The Phénix series was never intended for use inside metropolitan France; these notes circulated primarily in liberated territories and French overseas possessions as the Allies advanced.

Bradbury Wilkinson produced the plates to a high intaglio standard, though the wartime paper stock is notoriously variable — some examples show significant foxing and toning from storage conditions in North Africa and the Pacific.

The Fay reference VF.07 places this firmly within the provisional Free French emission sequence of 1943.

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