500 Francs

The Banque de Rouen was one of fifteen departmental banks authorized under Napoleonic legislation before the Bank of France moved to absorb them all — a process completed by 1848. These institutions issued their own notes redeemable locally, which meant a Rouen 500 Francs note was essentially worthless outside Normandy. High-denomination departmental notes were primarily instruments of commercial credit, not retail circulation; a 500 Francs piece in 1807 represented roughly a skilled worker's annual wage.

Survival rate for early departmental French issues is extremely low. Most were redeemed and destroyed as the Bank of France consolidated its monopoly.