50 Francs - Saint-Exupéry

The Pfunds — a Geneva-based husband-and-wife team — brought an unusually graphic, almost illustrative sensibility to this note, quite distinct from the engraved classical tradition that dominated Banque de France output for most of the twentieth century. Roger Pfund handled the engraving himself, which is rare; most BdF designs of the period separated those roles entirely.

Saint-Exupéry had been missing since July 1944, when his F-5B reconnaissance aircraft vanished over the Mediterranean on a mission from Corsica. His wreck was not positively identified until 2004, more than a decade after this note entered circulation.