500 Francs - Pascal type 1968 uniface

The Pascal 500 Francs ran from 1968 through 1994 — one of the longer production runs in modern French banknote history — and the 1980–1991 window marks the middle phase, during which the Banque de France made incremental security adjustments without altering the plate design. The "uniface" designation here refers to catalog classification, not a printing defect.

Fontanarosa was a painter and academician, not a professional banknote designer, which gives this note a slightly different visual register than contemporaries produced by career engravers. Armanelli's intaglio work translates that painterly sensibility into print with unusual fidelity. The 500 Franc denomination was the workhorse of large transactions in France before the 200 Franc note was reintroduced in 1995.