500 Francs

Obverse description	An allegorical female figure stands at left and Mercury appears at right, flanking a central text panel with two oval medallions bearing the bank's monogram. A pair of birds and a set of scales occupy the top centre within an ornate foliate border, while a frieze of cherubim runs along the bottom. The engraved vignette is rendered in a classical intaglio style consistent with mid-nineteenth-century French banknote design.
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Variants	P#A4(1) - black color, with No. 000 in four corners on front P#A4(2) - blue color, without No. 000 on front
Comments	The Banque du Sénégal was established by imperial decree in 1853 as one of France's colonial privilege banks, modeled closely on the Banques coloniales created for the Caribbean territories. Its note-issuing authority was tightly constrained — circulation limits were set by Paris, and the bank operated primarily out of Saint-Louis, then the administrative capital of French West Africa. Jacques-Jean Barre was Graveur Général de la Monnaie de Paris from 1855 until his death in 1855 — his son Albert-Désiré Barre continued in that role, and attribution between the two is frequently conflated in catalog records. Which Barre actually executed the design for this series warrants scrutiny.