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1000 Francs - type 1831
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1831 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 220 × 116 mm |
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| Obverse description | Typographic note with an elaborate engraved border composed of neoclassical vignettes — allegorical figures, putti, anchors, and decorative urns — framing a plain white centre field. The bold letterpress denomination "mille francs" is printed in large roman type at centre, below the issuer title "BANQUE DE FRANCE" and the creation date. Two oval text cartouches flanking the denomination field carry the anti-counterfeiting legal warning, and an oval control registration cartouche is centred in the lower half. Handwritten signatures of the Contrôleur, the Caissier Principal, and the Secrétaire du Gouvernement de la Banque appear in the central field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Plain unprinted reverse, as was standard for Banque de France notes of this early type, leaving the paper stock exposed without any printed design or lettering. |
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| Comments |
The Type 1831 thousand-franc note is the founding instrument of the Banque de France's large-denomination paper series — the first issue to reach this face value under the July Monarchy, introduced just as Louis-Philippe's government was scrambling to stabilize confidence after the upheaval of 1830. At 1,000 francs, this was not a note that passed through ordinary hands; it circulated almost exclusively among merchants, notaries, and institutions settling large commercial debts.
Andrieu was by then an elderly man — he had engraved Napoleonic coinage and imperial seals — and Normand brought architectural precision from his work on decorative arts publishing. A 12-million-plus print run over a type that spanned decades explains why surviving examples vary so sharply in condition, with later-dated specimens often showing the wear of heavy commercial use.