Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
100 Francs - type 1848 definitive
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1848-1856 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 100 Francs |
| 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 | Intaglio-printed note on white paper with an elaborate oval guilloche border enclosing the central text. The denomination "cent francs." is set in large letterpress script at centre, above which the heading "BANQUE DE FRANCE." and "PARIS" with date appear. Two oval medallion vignettes flank the central field at left and right, and a small allegorical vignette with two seated classical figures occupies the lower centre. Two columns of legal notice text in small type are placed at the left and right margins, with the title lines "Le Caissier Principal", "Le Contrôleur", and "LE SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL" running along the lower portion above three manuscript signatures. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE FRANCE. PARIS, cent francs. Le Caissier Principal Le Contrôleur LE SECRÉTAIRE GÉNÉRAL |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Signature(s) | Log in to see details |
| Protection type | Log in to see details |
| Protection description | Log in to see details |
| Variants | Log in to see details |
| Comments |
The type 1848 definitif replaced the emergency notes rushed out during the February Revolution, when the Moniteur universel's presses were briefly commandeered to produce provisional instruments while the Banque de France scrambled to meet demand. The definitive series arrived as a more deliberate response — Normand's design work and Galle's engraving represent the Banque's attempt to reassert institutional gravity after a chaotic spring.
André Galle had died in 1844, meaning the engraving attributed to him was almost certainly executed from earlier preparatory work or adapted plates — a common but rarely flagged complication with French state printing attributions of this period.