1000 Francs - type 1862 blue claw

The "griffe bleue" — blue claw — designation refers to the distinctive blue-ink cancellation stamp applied to notes withdrawn from circulation, a practice the Banque de France used throughout much of the nineteenth century to formally invalidate returned notes before archiving or destruction. Examples carrying that stamp intact are effectively cancelled specimens; uncancelled survivors from this 1862-1866 emission are considerably rarer and command corresponding attention.

Jacques-Jean Barre was the Graveur Général de la Monnaie des Médailles — the top engraving post in France — and died in 1855, meaning the plates he produced were already in use posthumously for this series. His son Albert took the post and continued under the same institutional arrangements.