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5 Francs - Violet type 1917, modificated
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1939-1940 |
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| Designer(s) | Obverse: Georges Duval, Charles-Albert Walhain Reverse: Charles-Albert Walhain |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE FRANCE CINQ FRANCS 5 | 5 LE CONTREFACTEUR SERA PUNI DES TRAVAUX FORCES A PERPETUITE CH. WALHAIN FEC. E DELOCHE SC. GEO. DUVAL FEC. ROMAGNOL SC. (Translation: BANK OF FRANCE FIVE FRANCS) |
| Reverse description | A dock worker ascends a ladder while handling a large sack on a quayside, with a moored sailing vessel visible in the background, the composition rendered in intaglio engraving within a decorative guilloche border. The denomination numeral "5" appears at left and right within foliate panels, and the issuer's name is printed across the top margin. |
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| Comments |
The "Violet type 1917" designation reflects just how long this design remained in service — the basic plate originated over two decades before these wartime impressions, making it one of the longest-lived small-denomination formats in Banque de France history. The "modificated" qualifier in the series name refers to adjustments made in the late 1930s to the signature combinations and control letter system, not a redesign.
Issued across the uneasy final months of the Third Republic and into the early Occupation period, notes from 1939–1940 circulated through one of the most disruptive transitions in modern French monetary history. Romagnoli's engraving work, shared with Deloche, was itself a collaboration across two distinct stylistic generations.