500 Francs - type 1817 definitive with green/white legend

The type 1817 definitive replaced an earlier provisional series and ran for seven years — a long production window that accounts for the substantial print total of just over 12 million notes. André Galle, primarily known as a medallist and seal engraver to the French state, brought a die-cutter's discipline to the plate work here, and Normand's compositional geometry reflects his training as an architect and decorative theorist rather than a conventional banknote draughtsman.

The green and white legend designation distinguishes this from closely related variants in the Fay catalogue; the color difference is a printing characteristic, not a later alteration.