2.50 Francs

Wartime necessity drove this note into existence. With supply lines from metropolitan France severed after the fall of Paris in 1940, French Oceania had to produce its own emergency currency locally — Ferrand's print shop in Papeete being the only remotely viable option. The result is technically crude by any professional standard, which is exactly what you'd expect from a commercial printer pressed into fiduciary service.

The 2.50 franc denomination itself was an awkward stopgap, introduced to cover the absence of coinage that could no longer be shipped from France. Reboul-Salze designed the series, but Ferrand's limitations kept the execution modest.