50 Francs - Saint-Exupéry type 1992 modified

The Saint-Exupéry 50 Francs was the last note of this denomination issued before France's transition to the euro, and one of the more typographically fussy series in the Bank of France's modern output. The 1994 signature variant split almost immediately into two collectible sub-types distinguished solely by whether the "al" in official signature titles is underlined — a proofreading inconsistency caught late, not a deliberate revision.

Roger Pfund's design work for the Banque de France was unusual in that he brought a graphic arts sensibility more common to Swiss printing than to French official currency. Printed at the Chamalières facility in Puy-de-Dôme, the note ran across five signature combinations over its production life, giving date-conscious collectors a meaningful progression to reconstruct.