200 Francs - Montesquieu type 1981, alphabets H.042, H.402, 101

The Montesquieu 200 Francs was the first French banknote to be designed by a woman — Pierrette Lambert, whose work on the series was selected through an internal Banque de France competition. Engravers Jubert and Renaud translated her design into intaglio, a process still done entirely at the Chamalières facility, which the Banque de France has operated since 1923.

The alphabets H.042, H.402, and 101 bracket a long production run spanning six years, during which security specifications remained largely unchanged — notably absent were the metallic threads and holograms being adopted elsewhere in Europe at the time.