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50 Échantillon type RAVEL Francs
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1992-2001 |
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| Composition | Cotton paper |
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| Obverse description | Portrait vignette of Maurice Ravel, the French composer born in 1875, rendered in intaglio against a guilloche underprint. A violin and musical notation appear as secondary design elements. The word ÉCHANTILLON overprinted in large letters serves as a specimen cancellation. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | ÉCHANTILLON 000 50 ÉCHANTILLON |
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| Comments |
The Ravel 50 francs was the last French banknote series designed entirely in-house before the euro transition ended the franc's seven-century run. The "Échantillon type" designation marks this as a specimen — produced by the Banque de France's own printing works at Chamalières specifically for distribution to banks, merchants, and cash-handling businesses for staff training and counterfeit-detection familiarization, never released into general circulation.
Specimens of this type were typically punched, perforated, or overprinted to prevent fraudulent use, and the specific cancellation method varies across known examples — worth examining closely on any individual piece.