500 Francs Leon Gaumont, Small module

The 1995 Léon Gaumont 500 Francs was issued as part of France's ongoing commemorative gold program honoring figures from French cultural and scientific history. Gaumont founded his film equipment company in 1895 — the same year the Lumière brothers held their famous first public screening — and spent decades competing directly with them for dominance of the early French cinema industry. His studio at Cité Elgé in Paris was, for a time, the largest film production facility in the world.

The "small module" designation distinguishes this piece from a larger-format issue struck the same year, both sharing the same fineness and nominal face value.