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500 Francs
| Issuer | Banque de la Guadeloupe |
|---|---|
| Year | 1887-1929 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | The reverse mirrors the general composition of the obverse, reproducing the same typographic and allegorical layout. The design is printed in red and black with identical decorative border elements and guilloche work, consistent with the face-to-back printing practice common to 19th-century French colonial issues. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Numerals of value 500 |
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| Comments |
The Banque de la Guadeloupe was one of the four colonial issuing banks established under French law in 1851, alongside its counterparts in Martinique, Réunion, and Guyane. These institutions operated under a framework that kept colonial currency supply formally separate from the Banque de France, though always subordinate to metropolitan monetary policy. The 500 Francs denomination would have been a large-value instrument in a plantation economy where most daily transactions ran far smaller.
Jacques-Jean Barre was the chief engraver at the Paris Mint — his name on colonial banknote designs of this period typically indicates plate work executed before his death in 1855, reused across decades of subsequent printings. The note's issue window spanning 1887 to 1929 almost certainly reflects a single plate design issued across multiple print runs rather than continuous fresh production.