50 Francs

The Banque de l'Algérie, though nominally a colonial institution, operated under a concession from the French state and functioned as Algeria's de facto central bank from 1851 through independence. This series spans a particularly stable period — no currency crisis, no wartime emergency — which is precisely why examples in decent order survive in reasonable numbers.

Romagnoli's engraving work is the note's distinguishing credential. A skilled intaglio engraver active in France during the interwar decades, his contribution gives the printing a depth and line quality that offset lithography of the period rarely matched.