Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
500 Francs - Blue and pink type 1888 modificated
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1937-1940 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Francs |
| 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 | Two pink oval medallions frame allegorical figures of Hercules and Mercury, set against a background of caduceus and foliate underprint motifs. A central blue oval frieze contains a composition of putti alongside a female figure holding the tablets of the law. The note bears the inscriptions BANQUE DE FRANCE and CINQ CENTS FRANCS, with the engraver's signature BARRE F. integrated into the design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | A central blue oval frieze on a white ground presents an allegorical vignette in which Hercules and Ceres are positioned at right and left respectively, a caduceus rising to the upper centre between them. Two flanking figures of lovers accompany a frontal portrait of Ceres, the composition executed in the detailed intaglio style characteristic of the late nineteenth-century Barre school. |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The "Bleu et Rose" 500 Francs design dates to 1888 but was kept in circulation — with periodic modifications — for over half a century, a remarkable run by any standard. By the time these issues were dated, the basic plate architecture was already fifty years old, making it one of the more antiquated notes in active French circulation during the late Third Republic.
The four distinct signature combinations across this issue reflect considerable staff turnover at the Banque de France through the political turbulence of the late 1930s. The final signature period, running into January 1940, places the last issues squarely within the early months of the Phoney War — a detail that sharpens the context for surviving high-denomination examples from those dates.