2500 Francs / 500 Ariary

Madagascar's dual-denomination system — where every note carries both a franc value and its ariary equivalent at a fixed 5:1 ratio — was a bureaucratic hedge that lasted until the ariary became the sole official currency in 2005. This note was printed during the transitional years when the central bank was already preparing the public for redenomination, making the franc figure increasingly nominal.

Pierrette Lambert's engraving work for the Banque de France was among the last generation of traditional intaglio craft before digital design methods took over the atelier. Her credit on this series is one of the few cases where a named engraver can be directly tied to a sub-Saharan African issue from that printer.