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500 Francs - Old type
| Issuer | Banque de France |
|---|---|
| Year | 1799 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 500 Francs |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Size | Log in to see details |
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| Printer | Log in to see details |
| Designer(s) | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is dominated by a large central oval vignette enclosed within an elaborate engraved border of guilloche scrollwork, with small portrait medallions at each corner. The principal text, rendered in letterpress in a large serif typeface, reads BANQUE DE FRANCE and cinq cents francs within the oval field. The denomination 500f. appears at the foot of the design, flanked by handwritten manuscript signatures of the Régents and the Directeur Général, with the date and place of issue inscribed above them. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
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| Protection type | Watermark |
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| Comments |
This note predates the Banque de France itself — it was issued under the Caisse des Comptes Courants, one of several private Parisian clearing banks operating in the final years of the Directoire, before Napoleon's consolidation of French banking in 1800. The involvement of Charles Percier and Firmin Didot places it at an interesting intersection: Percier was already developing the neoclassical vocabulary he would later deploy across Napoleonic interiors, while Didot was reshaping French typography. Andrieu, the engraver, was simultaneously working on coinage dies for the Consulat.
The 12,175,000 printed represents a substantial run for the period, issued into an economy still raw from the assignat collapse of the mid-1790s.