The franc also commonly distinguished as the French franc (FF), was a currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money. It was reintroduced (in decimal form) in 1795. After two centuries of inflation, it was redenominated in 1960, with each new franc (NF) being worth 100 old francs. The NF designation was continued for a few years before the currency returned to being simply the franc. Many French residents, though, continued to quote prices of especially expensive items in terms of the old franc (equivalent to the new centime), up to and even after the introduction of the euro (for coins and banknotes) in 2002. The French franc was a commonly held international reserve currency of reference in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The first franc paper money issues were made in 1795. They were assignats in denominations between 100 and 10,000 francs. These followed in 1796 by "territorial mandate promises" for 25 up to 500 francs. The treasury also issued notes that year for 25 up to 1000 francs.
In 1800, the Bank of France began issuing notes, first in denominations of 500 and 1000 francs. In the late 1840s, 100 and 200-franc notes were added, while 5, 20 and 50 francs were added in the 1860s and 70s, although the 200-franc note was discontinued.
The First World War saw the introduction of 10 and 1000-franc notes. The chambers of commerce's notgeld ("money of necessity"), from 1918 to 1926, produced 25c, 50c, 1 F, 2 F, 5 F, and 10 F notes.
Despite base-metal 5, 10 & 20 F coins being introduced between 1929 and 1933, the banknotes were not removed. In 1938, first 5000-franc notes were added.
In 1944, the liberating Allies introduced dollar-like paper money in denominations between 2 and 1000 francs, as well as a brass 2-franc coin.
After the Second World War, while 5, 10 and 20-franc notes were replaced by coins in 1950, as were the 50- and 100-franc notes in the mid-1950s. In 1954, the 10,000-franc notes were introduced.
In 1959, banknotes in circulation when the old franc was replaced by the new franc were:
500 francs: Victor Hugo
1000 francs: Cardinal de Richelieu
5000 francs: Henri IV
10,000 francs: Bonaparte 1st consul
The first issue of the new franc consisted of 500, 1000, 5000 and 10,000-franc notes overprinted with their new denominations of 5, 10, 50 and 100 new francs. This issue was followed by notes of the same design but with only the new denomination shown. A 500-new franc note was also introduced in 1960 representing Molière, replaced in 1969 by the yellow Pascal type (colloquially called a pascal). A 5-franc note was issued until 1970 and a 10-franc note (showing Hector Berlioz) was issued until 1979.
Banknotes in circulation when the franc was replaced were:
20 francs (€3.05): Claude Achille Debussy-brown-purple (introduced 1983)
50 francs (€7.62): Antoine de Saint-Exupéry—blue (introduced 20 October 1993, replacing Maurice Quentin de la Tour)
100 francs (€15.24): Paul Cézanne—orange (introduced 15 December 1997, replacing Eugène Delacroix)
200 francs (€30.49): Gustave Eiffel—red (introduced 29 October 1996, replacing Montesquieu)
500 francs (€76.22): Pierre and Marie Curie—green (introduced 22 March 1995, replacing Blaise Pascal)
Banknotes of the series current at changeover to the Euro could be exchanged at the French central bank or other services until 17 February 2012.
Most older series were exchangeable for 10 years from date of withdrawal. As the last banknote from the previous series had been withdrawn on 31 March 1998 (200 francs, Montesquieu), the deadline for the exchange was 31 March 2008.
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