50 Francs - Belain d'Esnambuc

The Caisse Centrale de la France d'Outre-Mer issued this note for circulation across multiple French overseas territories simultaneously — the same type served Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, and Réunion, among others, a deliberate postwar centralization of colonial monetary administration that replaced the older territory-specific issues. Belain d'Esnambuc, the 17th-century Norman merchant who established the first permanent French settlement on Martinique in 1635, was a standard honorific choice for the series, reflecting metropolitan France's preferred narrative about its Caribbean presence.

Hourriez and Régnier were both confirmed Banque de France atelier engravers; the pairing of separate obverse and reverse engravers on a single note was routine for the Banque de France's intaglio production at this period.