2 Nouveaux Francs / New Francs Overprint on P#26 - 100 Francs

The "nouveaux francs" redenomination of January 1960 — where 100 old francs became 1 new franc — created an administrative headache for the Caisse Centrale, which still held stocks of unissued 100-franc notes. Rather than commission entirely new plates, the solution was a straightforward overprint converting face value to 2 nouveaux francs, extending the useful life of an existing Banque de France printing by several years.

Fel designed the underlying note before the redenomination was even contemplated, and Armanelli's engraving work on the obverse was done for a different monetary world entirely.