Échantillon type RAVEL pour le 200 Euros

This is a Banque de France internal specimen produced to showcase Maurice Ravel as a candidate design for the 200 euro denomination — a proposal that never advanced. The European Central Bank's eventual decision to use anonymous architectural motifs rather than national figures effectively killed every country-specific submission of this kind. France had a strong tradition of honoring composers and artists on its francs, and the Ravel pitch reflects that instinct colliding directly with the ECB's pan-European neutrality policy.

The watermark is the sole documented security feature on this échantillon, consistent with its status as a presentation sample rather than a production-ready proof. Guitou — the pseudonym of designer Guy Georget — had worked on late-series French franc notes before the euro transition made that entire body of work redundant.