Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
20 Francs - Debussy type 1980
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1980-1989 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | 140 × 75 mm |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Banque de France Vingt Francs Claude Debussy 20 (Translation: Bank of France Twenty Francs Claude Debussy 20) |
| Reverse description | A mirror-image intaglio vignette of Debussy's portrait occupies the left portion of the note, serving as a registration complement to the obverse. The background carries a scene from the fountain of the blind, drawn from the musical drama Pelléas et Mélisande. The denomination "20" and the legal warning text regarding counterfeiting appear in letterpress across the field. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The Debussy 20 Francs ran for nearly a decade without design modification — unusual longevity for a Banque de France circulating note of this denomination, which typically cycled more frequently. Taurelle's design was engraved by two separate hands, Jubert on the obverse and Hérouard on the reverse, a division of labor standard at the Imprimerie de la Banque de France but one that occasionally produces subtle tonal inconsistencies between faces.
By the mid-1980s, the 20 Franc note was under pressure from the 20 Franc coin series, which progressively displaced it in everyday transactions. Notes from the final years of the run show heavier wear patterns than earlier printings precisely because fewer were being kept and more were cycling rapidly through commerce before withdrawal.