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!
50 Francs
| Issuer | French Treasury |
|---|---|
| Year | 1947 |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Obverse: Camille Beltrand Reverse: Joseph Broutin |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central vignette presents a classical bust of Mercury facing forward, wearing a winged helmet and adorned with a laurel branch over the right shoulder and an olive branch over the left. The denomination "50" appears at left and right, with the full legend arcing across the note identifying the issuing authority as the Trésor Français and restricting the note's validity to occupied territories. The engraving, executed by Camille Beltrand, exhibits fine intaglio line work characteristic of French Treasury military currency issues. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | 50 | 50 LE CONTREFACTEUR SERA PUNI DES PEI- NES PREVUES PAR LA LOI. |
| 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 Allied Military Currency francs issued under French Treasury authority were prepared in advance of the 1944 liberation and initially drew fierce resistance from de Gaulle's provisional government, which viewed them as an assertion of American financial control over liberated France. De Gaulle refused to formally recognize the notes as legal tender, though they circulated regardless. This 1947 date places the note in the tail end of that series — late printings continued well after the liberation itself.
Beltrand and Broutin were both established Banque de France engravers, which explains why these occupation-adjacent notes have a quality inconsistent with typical military currency.