50 Francs - Racine type 1962

The Racine series replaced the Molière 50-franc note as part of a broader Banque de France effort through the 1960s to refresh its circulating designs with new engravings rather than updated prints of existing plates. Pierrette Lambert designed the composition, with André Marliat handling the obverse engraving and Claude Durrens the reverse — a division of labor common at the Banque de France's own printing works, where engravers tended to specialize by face.

The signature combinations across this fourteen-year run are numerous enough that date-signature pairings have become the primary collector variable for the type. The 1967–1970 issues in particular span a transition in the Caissier Général position, making precise attribution important. Worn examples with illegible signatures lose a meaningful part of their catalog identity.