50 Francs - type 1884 black indexes

The type 1884 designation refers to the introduction of alphabetic registration indexes printed in black — a modification to an existing plate series, not a new issue from scratch. Dupuis designed the principal allegorical figures, while Robert's engraving work on this series is considered among the finer intaglio output from the Banque de France's own ateliers during the Third Republic period.

The Banque de France had been printing its own notes in-house since the mid-nineteenth century, resisting the outsourcing model common among smaller European central banks. Cotton substrate was standard for the series, though surviving examples frequently show the foxing and brittleness characteristic of notes that passed through Paris commercial circulation in the 1880s.