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500 Livres Assignat
| Issuer | République Française (French Republic) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1793 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Livres (500 LT) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Watermark |
| Protection description | Watermark reading "FRENCH REPUBLIC" (République Française) visible in the paper. |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
Assignats at this denomination were deeply unpopular from the start — 500 livres was far beyond the reach of ordinary wage earners, making the note functionally useless for daily trade and circulating mainly among merchants and speculators who distrusted paper currency in the first place. The Convention had already authorized enormous volumes of lower denominations by this point, and inflation was accelerating regardless.
Gatteaux, a medal engraver of genuine distinction, produced work for several assignat series. Counterfeiting of high-value assignats was rampant enough that the Revolutionary government eventually made forgery a capital offense — a deterrent that did almost nothing to slow production of fakes, many printed abroad by émigré networks and British-backed operations.